The Tale of Arcmelos -The Battle of the Labyrinth
by Arcmelos
Summary: Rewrite of Arc's second story. If you haven't read the first one, I suggest doing so, so you understand. Written in Third Person following the story of BOTL but with Arc's inclusion.
1. Chapter 1

**all rights go to the original author of the series for Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus, I am only writing these for fun! This is a rewrite of my older story, you're welcome to look read my other stories but be warned, they are hot garbage. But etiher way I hope you enjoy and review the story.**

Chapter one - A Great Day Turns A Terrible Day

**A few Months later.**

It was June sixteenth, Arc was sat in the garage of the Ferrari GT2 Class becoming one of the youngest to compete in Le Mans; waiting for his stint in the pouring rain at two in the morning. He was excited. His first taste of a proper Motorsport in years, and he hadn't lost his touch. He was hoping that the downpour would be in his favour what with it being water and the son of Poseidon.

He stood, watching the car come down the pit lane on the monitor, stepping out of the garage watching the car pull in, a new front bumper and wet tyres being placed on, fuel being pumped in. As he swapped roles with his team mate, a pat on the shoulder from both of them as he helped Arc get strapped in. He stopped the tyres from kicking into a wheelspin exiting his box, and coming back out onto track, just ahead of the car in third. He struggled for grip for a time, getting the tyres to a sensible temperature so it could stick to the slippery surface, finally getting into a rhythm, with a little help from his powers on the wet slick surface.

After many hours, and two more stints, Arc crossed the line, winning his class fists flying in the air as he slowed down to a conserving pace, making his way back to the pits to meet his team, emotions high and bear hugs sent his way from everyone. He stood on the top step of the podium, along with his two team mates and the other two teams, the two Ferrari's a front row lock out. He finished his usual procedurely interviews; thankful to be back and able to do something in Motorsport and getting this opportunity, he made his way back to the hotel room he was staying in, his car hidden from sight as to not raise suspicion on a fifteen year old driving around in a car.

He placed the trophy in an empty overnight dufflebag, shattered from the twenty four hour long event. He was nodding off when he heard a plea for help from one of his new found friends Annabeth. His eyes shot open, shooting up out of bed and getting ready, stuffing his clothes, race suit and helmet in their respective bags, slinging them over his shoulders doing a quick sweep of the room to make sure he didn't leave anything behind, before running down to his car. He quickly checked out of the Hotel, slinging everything in his boot and was thankful he couldn't be seen, pressing the logo on the boot and picking the keys up before he Mist Travelled to Half Blood Hill, thinking the camp was once again under attack from Kronos and his goons.

Ever since the incident back at his camp, he had been visiting both secretly, ensuring that everything was safe, and to check up on his Camp to see if anything turned up to destroy his home or anyone stumbling in that needed help in their newly discovered life, rife with monster attacks.

The odd occasional monster did appear, lesser ones that were looking for fresh Demigods meat, instead tasting celestial bronze of the spear and battle axe; trying to get to grips with the weapons to find the optimal way of using them. He looked at his watch, it reading Nine thirty in the morning and sprinted up the hill; passed the dragon sleeping peacefully guarding the Fleece. He came face to face with the Apollo Cabin, aiming their bows at him arrows notched.

It was understandable. Whatever had happened wasn't good if the entire camp was on high alert, Ares cabin patrolling the forest with Apollo campers; with a strange person sprinting into camp startling everyone. Thankfully Chiron trotted over seeing the commotion from the clearing below.

"Lower your weapons, it's Arc!" Relief passed their faces thankful not to fight someone in a real matter of life and death. Arc glanced at the campers realising their worry, due to the fact that a lot of them he'd never seen before, probably because he was last here Winter time, a lot of them being Summer campers meant they didn't know him.

"Chiron? What's happening? Where's Annabeth, I heard her talking to me in my head, wanting help." Chirons face went slack a dark look passing over his features.

"Arc, come with me. We need to talk."He didn't like how he said that, fear creeping into him clouding his mind and fearing the worst for his new found friends.

Arc followed the Centaur to the big house, and leaned against the railings head in hand as he watched campers running around in a hurried manner trying to catch up with their fellow campers. Some looked tired, exhausted swapping with campers and telling them to get rest while they swapped shifts, listening to Chiron explain the events transpiring.

"I can't believe the Labyrinth is open. How was it discovered under Zues' fist?" He wondered, staring around at the mass of campers running around on patrol, some staring at him, waving as they went, from people that he knew and looks of intrigue from others that he didn't know.

"Percy and Annabeth accidentally stumbled across it during a Sword Practice event held by our new instructor." Chiron explained, Arc's eyebrow rising in question at this new instructor.

"But where are they? Annabeth called for me wanting help, I thought they were here." Arc explained. Chiron shook his head face paling.

"No, she's leading Percy, Grover and Tyson on a quest." That name was foreign to him, he'd never met anyone called Tyson.

"Quick question, who's Tyson?" Arc wondered, turning to look at Chiron. He looked tentative on the subject, answering carefully.

"Hes your brother, he is... A cyclops, a good one though."

His eyes widened in surprise, he knew he was a good one. The cyclops, Winter just passed were corrupted by Kronos, trying to destroy as many Half bloods he could in retaliation to the war that was building.

"Oh. So why does Annabeth want my help then? I came here thinking the camp was under attack again like last summer." Chiron didnt have an explanation. He looked worried for Annabeth. All of them. They were all like children to Chiron, Annabeth especially.

Arc excused himself, explaining he was tired and wandered to his cabin, ignoring the hushed whispers from campers around him that didn't know who he was, watching him enter a cabin they didn't realise he belonged too. He quickly showered, coming out of the bathroom drying his hair before he crashed instantly on the bed, sleep deprivation taking over sending him into a deep sleep. Unfortunately not a peaceful one, being a demigod always creates problems with sleeping peacefully, as he watched his friends running around the Labyrinth in his dream vision.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Dream

The dream followed them running through the Labyrinth, running left and right, forwards and backwards on themselves. He tried to call out to them, but his voice didn't work. He followed them, running along with them, when Annabeth stopped, frantically looking left and right in search of something, squinting into the darkness.

"I'm sure it's this way. It has to be." Annabeth mumbled, breathing heavily from exhaustion. They all looked really beaten up, he felt sorry for them having to run around in a dark, dank maze. What kept crossing his mind was, why did Annabeth ask for his help? They looked exhausted yes but didn't look in danger. He watched them soldier on down the dark tunnels, following closely behind. Then they stopped. He watched as Grover peered down the dark tunnel to the left, eyes wide in wonder muttering something about Pan, running down the tunnel with Tyson in tow.

Annabeth and Percy carried on, looking dejectedly after them. Not realising it at first, Arc now noticed the glowing bronze creature running around in the Labyrinth. They were following a Metal Spider. The dream shifted to a boy with blonde hair and a long jagged scar running under his eye, someone who he hadn't seen since their second encounter. Luke Castellan. He was in a dark area, surrounded by different monsters alike, scanning down different dark passages.

He walked the Labyrinth too.

Arc shot up, sweat dripping from his face, glancing outside, seeing it was lunchtime for the Camp. The conch horn blew, alerting the campers that it was time for food, everyone coming in from Patrol before starting up again. Arc rubbed his eyes of sleep, throwing the keyring to the floor, the bronze keyring morphing to his preffered car choice, the Mustang; grabbing some fresh clothes from the boot, ignoring the hushed whispers from campers around him. He made his way to the Dining Hall, ignoring the stares from others as he sat at Poseidons table filling his goblet with coffee.

"Campers. To those that don't know him, This is Arcmelos. Percy's brother." Chiron announced, everyone watching the son of Poseidon down the coffee, feeling more awake almost instantly, watching as it filled once more, draining it of its contents once more.

"Hello." He smiled. The man of many words. "Chiron, I need to make my way to Olympus. I know where Percy and Annabeth are currently heading to and they are going to need to know what I'm about to tell them, so I'm going to meet them there." He explained, Chiron nodding in understanding. Arc looked at the campers, mumbling under their breaths. "I would tell you the story of myself and I don't want to be rude, but it'll have to wait until this is all over because its an extremely long story, and they are currently in trouble. Luke's in the Labyrinth too, and I have a feeling he's after them and not alone." He addressed everyone. Worry crossed over Chiron's face as Arc looked at his watch, excusing himself to quickly grab his car and made his way to Olympus.

He walked inside the workshop finding everything to accomodate mortals height, including Hephaestus in his normal human form underneath a Toyota Corolla. "Hephaestus, its Arc. Is it okay if I use your forge? And if I help you with that can you help me with a few little projects?"

Hephaestus rolled out from underneath the car, wiping his hands of oil. "Of course Arc. The suspension needs changing on the right, I will carry on with the left one. The brakes need changing along with brake fluid and oil."

He nodded his head, taking it all in, preparing to help. Arc set to work, knowing that shortly, his friends would be coming through some secret enterance somewhere in this room, leading into the workshop. After fourty minutes everything on the car was completed that needed doing, and Hephaestus looked over the concept designs of what Arc wanted designed. The first was the little celestial bronze devices, that monsters couldn't track using some trickery with the Mist Hecate taught him.

The devices worked differently to phones however, as they all had unique codes to be able to call someone, mainly their names followed by a few digits, that were encoded into the device. You put their name in as the number as they are all connected together. When that was finished they set to work on another project, something that had a little more range than his crossbow and pistols.

"The bullets on the prototype mag need to have an enchantment on them so they can't harm Demigods, either or a different type of round that knocks Half bloods unconscious if the need arises like in the war. A long range sight that can help me with scouting if the need arises." Arc explained. Hephaestus nodded his head and flicked his wrist, the weapon assembled into a celestial bronze master piece. A long barrelled M16 DMR with a fifteen times magnification scope. Arc stared in awe, ready to protest.

"Its fine. You've helped me more than any Demigod has in a long time, it's a little thank you." Arc smiled kindly, and thanked Hephaestus. He threw both the weapon and left ring into the flames, watching as they both melted and merged into one another, the ring forming once more. He pulled the searing hot ring from the fire, quenching it in oil, slipping it onto his finger once more before looking up at the god, thanking him once more. He wandered over to the corner of the room, finding a table in the corner where he perched, waiting.

He sat, swinging his legs freely on the table, twirling the ring on his finger; in the corner of the workshop when the wall next to him opened. Annabeth and Percy stepped through panting from chasing the metal spider for so long, not noticing him to the side of them, watching the spider as it ran to the Hephaestus, walking over to Hephaestus themselves, who was looking over something else on the car, removing the headlights. He walked up beside the two, both too fixated on the god infront of them to notice his pressence. It was understandable, he did tend to hide himself, especially as of late.

"You alright, you look out of breath." Arc teased. The two whipped around, startled at the voice besides them, relaxing when they saw who it belonged to.

"Arc? Oh wow you have changed, you need a shave." Annabeth grinned, bringing him into a brief hug, a huge grin on her face.

"Hey Annabeth. You alright Perce." He smiled, bringing his brother into a hug.

"What are you doing here, man?" Percy asked, smiling at his long lost, since discovered, brother.

"Oh, I'm just getting prepared for the war with you know who. I see you're trying to find Daedalus's workshop." Annabeth scowled at him laughing at his confused expression.

"I hate it when you read our minds." She scowelled, jokingly.

"Oh, no I went to camp earlier and asked them where you were, you guys have been gone a week you know." They both looked surprised, faces turning serious when he told them the news. "Luke's in the Labyrinth too." Arc sighed, glancing at Annabeth to gage a reaction, looking shocked and a little anxious, as well as Percy's. He growled at Luke's name, glancing at the god besides them that just ignored their presence.

"Oh Annabeth, what did you need help with?" Annabeth looked miffed for a time, thinking back on what he was talking about until a spark ignited.

"You got that?" She breathed, looking stunned.

"Yeah, of course I got it. I keep an eye on you all with The Mist." He explained, twirling the ring on his finger.

"Oh, well we were against Kampe who was holding Briares prisoner." Arc recognised the name, amazement on his face. "And then she started chasing after us and wasn't sure whether it still followed, and your crossbow came to mind." She explained.

"huh, a hundred handed one, I thought they all died out. Anyway nice to catch up, and I don't mean to be rude but, I gotta see someone so I'll meet you back here later." He excused himself, sprinting to the door in search of a certain Hunter.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The News.

On his way past the different Palace doors, he stopped in front of the one decorated with gleaming white marble pillars, and walls, an owl etched above the door frame. This wasn't who he came to see but it felt like something that needed to be done. He took a deep breath, knocking on the door, hoping it was vacant.

"Enter." Called Athena from the other side.

He pushed open the door, struggling at its weight as he entered the room. Everything was his height, besides the door and walls, a huge desk sprawling out littered with blueprints, schematics, tactic sheets, books. Anything and everything that the goddess of Wisdom and battle strategy would need.

In the middle with her back slightly to him, stood the goddess herself, hair draped over her face as she looked over the papers.

"Uhm. Lady Athena?" he wondered. She turned eyes widening in surprise briefly before narrowing.

"What do you want, Sea Spawn? Come to embarrass me again? Don't think your father will come to help you, he is forever banished from entering my Palace. Same goes for his children. I should kill you now for how you disrespected me." She growled, eyes a blaze. He swallowed thickly, staring up at the menacing blonde goddess who looked very much like an older Annabeth.

"That's somewhat why I am here." He breathed. "Not to embarrass you." He added quickly at her twitching eye.

"Make it quick then boy." she grumbled, eyes drifting back to her work.

"I've actually come to apologise for that." He explained. Her head whipped to his direction, eyes scrunching in scrutiny, waiting for him to continue.

"I know it's no excuse but. A few days before, my camp was wiped out by... You know, and I went there to witness the Aftermath of it all, watching the people who raised me draw their last breath in front of me, seeing places of their bodies I wished I could never see, still haunting my dreams every other night to this day. " He explained, playing with the bands on his necklace. "I lost my temper immensely that day and just murdered everything that wiped out everything I'd ever truly loved. After all of that, over the next few days I was feeling suicidal at the time, not caring whether I lived or died. Poseidon. He wasn't the greatest of parents. He broke my every being, training me to fight so much and too often that I just became a husk of the person I once was." He looked down, refusing to cry, blinking away the tears. He didn't want to guilt trip Athena, just to hear his story and the events of the days prior.

"When they died, that was the first bit of emotion that had shown through me since I was eight. But like I said. It's no excuse and I shouldn't have addressed you and embarrassed you in front of the gods, it wasn't right and it definitely wasn't my place to do so. So I am deeply sorry." He breathed honestly, staring up at the stunned goddess who just nodded. She was silent for some time, finally finding her voice after the weight she saw somewhat lift off his shoulders, turning and leaning against the table.

"I know you understand that we aren't meant to get involved with our children directly. Why was this an exception from Poseidon breaking the rules?" She wondered, asking very calmly to a son of her most hated enemy.

"The Mist I suppose, Lady Athena. I was born in such a heavy layer of it, that the doctor couldn't see me, nor could my mother. He intervened, thinking that they were purposefully ignoring his first born son. That was until he entered the room, sensing the heavy aura around me." He explained, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

"And what of Poseidon? When he trained you to the extent of becoming nothing but a tool essentially, what was he like?" she wondered, frowning down at the boy. He paused thinking about his memories of his father growing up, and how he resented him.

"Now that you mention it. Strict. Callous, nothing like how I know him today. I resented the way he treated me growing up, always the disappointment out of the two sons." He explained, staring up at the goddess' face, briefly flickering with worry.

She stood in silence once more, sighing and nodded. "Very well Sea Spawn. I'll accept your apology this time, but if you anger me or embarrass me again, I won't hesitate to kill you." he nodded, bowing slightly to the goddess.

"Yes, Lady Athena. I appreciate you generosity, I honestly do not deserve it." She sighed, nodding to the door, letting him leave. He bowed once more, closing the door, barely, behind him as he took a deep breath, baffled on what possessed him to pull a stunt like that, fearing the outcome had it gone differently.

He found Thalia discussing tactics outside of Artemis Palace, going over their latest Hunt coming up to kill The Manticore once again which unfortunately materialised once more, probably with the help of Kronos. She glanced to his direction, doing a double take when he drew closer. Her face lit up at the familiar face, quickly hiding it from the Hunters who watched his approach with disdain and contempt.

"Hey Thals." He grinned shakily as he got closer, "Can we go talk elsewhere?" He wondered, glancing at the Hunters. He didn't feel much hate towards them anymore, after his time of contemplation after everything that had happened he'd realised that it was pointless holding grudges. They wandered off a little way after Thalia excused herself, walking away from the Hunters, behind a pillar outside of the main hall leading towards the steps of the Village outside of the Throne Room. She surprised him when she brought him into a hug, squeezing him briefly and then releasing before he got the chance to respond.

"Sorry. I just haven't seen you or anyone from camp in a while, guess I was missing you all." She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. A blush was forming on the pairs faces, Arc clearing his throat as he tried to find his voice.

"Yeah, no problem. It's nice to see you too." He smiled, as he sat on the edge of the pillars base, Thalia joining him looking out to the bustling Village below.

"What can I do for you?" She wondered, twirling the silver charm bracelet on her wrist that turns into Aegis, a fearsome shield that strikes fear into those who gaze upon it.

"Well as a matter of fact I was hoping you could help me figure something out, and help calm my nerves." He sighed glancing at her through the corner of his eye.

"Why? What happened?" Thalia frowned, Looking quizically up at him, noticing his jitteriness.

"Well I still seem to have a death wish. I just knocked on Athena's Palace to apologise, and if it had gone any other way, I would have definitely been killed." He sighed shaking his head. "I have no idea what possessed me to do it." Thalia stared at him in shock, wonder on her face.

"Well judging by your being here, it went well then." He nodded, looking over at his friend.

"Had a bit of a chat about my past, surprising me she found interest in it really. But that's besides the point." He said, smiling and shaking his head. "I came here to talk to you about something. Odd, that happened after I took Annabeth, Grover and Percy back to Camp last Winter. Aphrodite appeared in front of me, just like she did to Percy on that Quest." She looked confused up at him, turning to face him.

"Why? What did she want?" She wondered, looking sceptical.

"Well with my existense being unknown to the goddess of Love she was thoroughly confused with. Well. Everything. According to her, love is usually woven into peoples destiny's from birth, and with me being hidden from sight for so long, I wasn't meant to get a happy ending. Bit harsh sounding I know." He smiled, looking at her nodding frowning face. "Well apparently, the same thing was with you." Her eyebrows shot up in shock, surprise written on her face.

"Well it makes sense I suppose. I did become a Hunter." She reasoned. Arc shook his head as he spun the ring on his finger, watching the variety of weapons shimmering inside.

"I don't think it was anything to do with that. I think it was to do with becoming the tree that protects Camp, I don't think she was expecting you to come back to life."

"Oh." She sounded shocked and hurt, a hurt expression crossing her features as she looked down at her hands, thumbing the bracelet on her wrist.

"But because of this she wanted to talk about the fact that neither of us weren't meant to be alive and how this created an odd story of events, and how this was fabricated on its own with no help from her, so she's quite intrigued on the subject. Artemis and Aphrodite knew that there was... Conflicts going on in your head and Artemis was hesitant to let you join the Hunters but didn't have the choice." He looked over to her, watching her face turn bright red. The corner of his mouth curled into a small smile as she finally got to grips with the conversation.

"Oh. I see where this is going." She sighed, embarrassment showing on her face. She rubbed her hands on her legs, nervousness setting in and mixing with the ADHD that all Demigods are born with.

"Why didn't you say something?" He wondered, looking over at her. He watched her lips move trying to form a sentence for a while before a sharp exhale of breath escaped in irritation at her inabillity of finding the right words.

"Well its not exactly something I wanted to talk to you about. I thought it was just... I dunno. A faze I suppose. But." She sighed as she stood shaking her head slightly, looking down at the Village below whilst pacing slowly.

"But?" He wondered, hope and fear on his face, looking up to Thalia who stopped pacing head hung looking down at the village from the shadows of the pillars.

"I suppose it wasn't a faze." She sighed. "And I don't know what to do now because I'm a Hunter and I have to just. Hide it and deal with it." He watched tears pool in her eyes, making his heart break.

"Hey. Come here." He stood, still hidden in the shadows of the pillars and help of the Mist, brought her into a hug. "Aphrodite said that they came to an agreement that if you were to fall on the battlefield they will heal you and make you immortal and put you on Olympus."

She wiped the tears from her eyes after pulling away, looking up at his sympathetic face.

"In what way does that help?" She exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air looking baffled.

"I have no idea. But. I feel the same way too." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. A smile crept onto her face, as she looked up at him tentatively, glancing at each others lips before slowly leaning in.

"We can't. It just feels... Wrong. I've pledged myself to the Hunters, I have to stay strong." She said defeated, pulling away the mere inches between them, turning away.

"Thals. You know we're hidden right now? No one not even the gods can see us." Arc sighed. He watched her, biting her bottom lip looking torn.

"I can't Arc. I just. When this is all over, maybe. Right now I don't want to tempt fate." She sighed, wrapping her arms around him leaning her head on his chest, thankful the Mist was around them and no one could see.

"Annabeth and Percy are here too you know, I left them in Hephaestus' Palace." He smiled, changing the awkward subject. She gasped and looked up at him, a grin on her face. She grabbed his hand, dragging him away to the entrance before remembering what she just told him and where she was.

She dropped his hand, smiling sheepishly and carried on walking with him in tow, walking in the direction of the god of Forges Palace. They soon found it, walking in when he felt it. The grasp he had on his brothers pressence faded, alarming him instantly, trying to locate him and Annabeth, but only picking up Annabeth closing in fast on their direction. Arc let out a small gasp, alerting Thalia to him, frowning at him.

"What? Whats wrong?" She pressed.

"Percy. He's gone. I can't feel him. Anywhere. I keep tabs on everyone with the Mist when I can, and I can only pick up Annabeth who is currently rushing through that door now." He pointed to the hidden doorway in the corner that led into the Labyrinth. Annabeth came crashing into the area, spotting Thalia, and wrapped her arms around her crying into her shoulder, babbling about Percy.

"Annabeth, what's happened to Percy? I can't sense him anymore." Arc questioned urgently, while Thalia comforted her.

"Per-Percy he-" She broke down crying again. "I don't know something happened in the mountain and it erupted and Percy shot out of it and. And now he's gone." She told the pair and Hephaestus through a broken voice, sobbing for her lost friend. Hephaestus looked down on the child of Athena with pity and told Annabeth what she wanted to hear about the Labyrinth and about Daedalus's workshop.

"So, you think he's...?" Arc asked Annabeth but didn't finish the sentence, he couldn't. He couldn't deal with the loss of his brother, it was bad enough he recently lost his parental figures back at his Camp.

"I dont know, the mountain did erupt." Annabeth cried, as Arc sat on the wooden table besides the door frame.

Hephaestus stepped in, sighing with a sad look in his eyes. "You should go back to your camp and wait there, rest for a while." Arc came to his senses as he watched her nod, Thalia walking over to him with her arm wrapped around her friend.

"Look after her. I'd come back to camp with you but I need to go on a Hunt shortly." She sighed, a glimmer of a tear in her eye. Arc brought Annabeth into a hug, trying to hide the sadness in his eyes, which possibly made things worse with how much he reminded Annabeth of his brother. They said their goodbyes to the god and Thalia, watching them as they both dissolved into Mist, travelling back to camp to be the barer of bad news.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Something Happens

They materialized in the Dining Hall, startling everyone during their evening meal before the camp fire. Her Cabin stood to greet Annabeth, but she sprinted passed everyone, running in the direction of the Athena Cabin, leaving him to go over the events of today. He sighed as he sat down at his table, the Goblet appearing in front of him and filling with his usual beverage of choice, looking at the awaiting questioning eyes of everyone.

"We fear that Percy might be dead, it didn't help matters when I let slip that I lost his pressence in the Mist." Shocked gasps and murmurs spread out in the Dining Hall, Chiron having to stomp his hoof on the ground, quieting the campers.

"Why on Earth do you both think that?" Chiron wondered, trying to hide the distraught look on his face. He concentrated on the Mist, waving his hand as a bronze screen formed showing the news of Mt St Helens.

"Mt St Helen's erupted earlier tonight, the causes are unknown. But for now the police have moved over a million people away from the area. We will keep you posted." The news reporter rushed out with urgency in the raining ash. The screen turned off, afixing itself on the Pavillions wooden beam in the far center.

"Percy and Annabeth were there doing a side quest for Hephaestus. Percy caused that eruption and made something stir from a long slumber according to Hephaestus, imprisoned there. Then he gave her some information on the Labyrinth and we came here." Arc explained, sighing trying to stop the tears from flowing. It pained him the fact he'd barely known his brother and now he was potentally gone.

Arc excused himself, walking toward his cabin, crashing into the pillow for a haunted sleep. He looked around in his dream, a girl was seen with caramel hair tending a garden. He knew some things about Ancient Greece, knowing she was apart of this world too, sensing the heavy aura of Mist surrounding her, but was unable to put a name to the face he was seeing, watching her turquoise eyes shimmer as she tended to her plants.

The Dream oddly enough was silent. He didn't hear anything. The obvious wind that was blowing, her hair lightly flapping around in the cool breeze. He didn't hear the commotion behind him, as the girls head flicked up, eyes narrowing on an object in the distance of the body of water surrounding this mysterious Island. The dream shifted to something else.

His Camp.

He saw the fight once more, everything happening all at once, watching the bloodshed of the people he called friends. But this time the dream was different.

He lead the attack, watching as he slew campers, standing over the parental figures of the young Arcmelos. Watching as he drove the tip of The son of Hermes Spear into their hearts, the look of betrayl on their faces engraving into his mind. He knew it wasn't real. He would never do something like this. He heard an evil menacing laugh from the deep. A rumbling coming from the Earth.

"Found you." A sinnister voice whispered in his head. He shot up in bed, the first dream instantly forgotten as he panted for breath, swinging his legs over the bed before sprinting into the bathroom and emptying his stomach of nothing but bile. He gasped for air as he heard the conch horn in the distance, recalling the dream. It was so life like it scared him, and not much did that to him but as of late after the destruction of his camp a lot of emotions made his life a living hell. He stood shakily, flushing the toilet and brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth to get rid of the fowl taste. What was that dream.

His blood ran cold as realisation swept over him whilst he got changed. He threw on the clothes quicker than the pace he was before, and sprinted to the Dining Hall in search of Chiron. He startled the already seated campers, as he looked frantically around the hall, finally spotting the Centaur entering the Pavillion.

"Chiron!" He called as he ran to him, concern written on everyones faces, including his.

"What is it my boy?" He wondered as he guided the young son of Poseidon away from the prying ears of the others, clearly sensing this was a serious private matter. Arc looked over his shoulder spotting Annabeth, concern and fear written on her face. Thinking it had something to do with Percy, she sprinted after them, much to the protests of her siblings, catching up to the two as they made their way up the steps of the Big House sitting on the porch as they looked at the dishevelled son of Poseidon.

"What is it? Is it Percy? Have you found him?" Annabeth rushed, sitting opposite beside Chiron. A spark briefly went off in his head regarding the first dream but at this moment in time his worry lied in the dream regarding the sinnister voice. He shook his head to the dissapointment of Annabeth and Chiron, their faces growing serious once he revealed what had happened.

"I think _He _has found me." Arc said quietly, almost a whisper.

"You mean..." Annabeth started, glancing up at Chiron, whos face looked as if all his years of life had finally caught up with him.

"Yes our _'Friend' _way downstairs." Arc breathed, a shudder in his voice, finger quoting Friend. "It could be nothing but."

"Tell me what you saw." Chiron interuped him, this was a serious matter and Arc knew he didn't mean it in a rude way but in one of most dire importance.

"I was back at my Camp, watching the destruction of it, how it all went down but something was off this time around. I was stood to the side watching it all happen, campers dying, being slaughtered and at the front leading it all was. Me. I lead a charge on my own Camp, killing those I called friends, including Terry and Rachael." He took a shuddering breath, running his hands back and forth on the tops of his thighs as his leg nervously bounced as he got lost in the retelling of the dream, staring into the knots on the table.

"Then I heard a rumble in the earth, the ground shaking as if something was shifting it. And I heard it. A whispy voice in my head whispering that it had found me. A laughter accompanying it." He looked up at Chiron, worry and fear in his eyes as Chiron contemplated the dream.

"Did the voice sound. Deep? Low or gravelly?" Chiron wondered shaking his head slightly. Arc thought about it, going over the dream once more in his head. He finally shook his head, realising that this was something potentially much worse by the blip of fear on Chirons face, one he thought he expertly hid well, but Arc saw it. He smiled a soothing smile down at the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder as he stepped over to him.

"It was just a dream my boy. _He_ has a deep voice that makes your skin crawl when he appeared in Percy's dreams." A wave of relief washed over him, but was extinguished abruptly at the prospect of this mysterious voice that Chiron refused to tell him about. He nodded, little energy to fight this problem Chiron was keeping from him.

"Come you two, lets get something to eat before breakfast is over." Chiron escorted the two back to the Dining Hall, distress written on both their faces for two different reasons. He watched Annabeth wander to her cabins table where they questioned her on the subject. Children of Athena, always inquisitive on everything.

He carried on walking past his table, not feeling in the mood to eat as he continued walking to the his cabin before disappearing in the Mist back to England, fear creeping into his chest. He looked around in the afternoon sun around Camp, fearing the dream he'd just had would come to life. The Camp stood quietly, looking around at the derelict workspace and Cabins, sighing as if hoping that the Camp would come to life like it used to, campers bustling about training or working at the Forges. He walked slowly to the open area that housed the Forges towards the Hephaestus Cabin, prepping it all for use; blasting the furnace from the enchanted bellows with air watching the coals become lava once more. His clothing changed to a more accomodating attire for the heat of the Forge and the surprisingly hot Summer's day that England held, starting to work on his latest weapons helping him for a time to Forget everything.

An hour into designing the weapons on paper and another for Forging the molten Bronze, his new weapons were formed, throwing them in the Forges flames along with the ring on his left hand watching as they morphed into one; the ring forming once more in the flames. He pulled out the ring with the tongs, dipping it in the oil as always before sliding the warm metal on his finger, the heat a welcoming source of pain as it took his mind off of what his dream meant.

It had to be about Kronos surely. Who else would know of him? He got lost in his work for another couple of hours, as he made enchanted gear for the Camp, throwing his keyring on the floor as it shimmered into a SWAT Van, throwing everything he'd recently made into the back; slamming the doors shut and pressing the Trident on the back as always. He shoved the keys back into his pocket, glancing up at the sun above and down at his watch, wiping the sweat from his brow as he Travelled back to his new Camp just in time to hear the conch horn blow signalling lunch, his stomach growling in retaliation from being starved for a day.

He sighed, looking forlorn down at his platter in front of him, standing and making his way to the brazier. He offered the best cuts of everything as always to his father, hoping that he'd at least let him know that Percy was still alive somewhere or turned up safe. His brow furrowed in frustration as he felt the usual warm feeling he and Percy always got in response, knowing that at least he listened but recieved nothing but an abrupt, cool brisk breeze that lead to the beach in response.

He looked out at the beach through the trees dejectedly. He couldn't blame his father though, not anymore. They weren't allowed to get involved with their children's lives fully, especially with Poseidon after he secretly raised his first born son for the first six years of his life and the three after his time in the WRX championship. Only slight nudges in the right direction were allowed, and the way he was raised were in no way near slight nudges.

Over the next few days, they all went about their daily buisness patrolling the forests during the day and night, training in the arena or in the forest surrounding the Camp. He'd told Annabeth about his talk with Athena, smiling and thanking him for apologising to her mother. Annabeth spent some time with Arc teaching him of the things that Poseidon left out in his basic knowledge of the world of past and present, albeit a bit distractedly on both their parts.

A couple of weeks eventually passed, Thalia and the Hunters quickly dropping into Camp one night telling them that there was still no progress on finding Percy, quickly having to leave with Artemis as she appeared to take them off on their annual Hunt. The next night everyone was pained that they had to hold his ceremony.

Everyone in camp sat around the campfire after dinner, the fire a dwindling blue, depicting the emotions on everyones minds. Everyone that knew Percy were worse than others that didn't but the Camp was still saddened on the news that he still hadn't either been discovered or came back to Camp. It was never easy when a Camper either died or dissappeared.

The Camp sat waiting for the ceremony to begin. To burn Percy's shroud. Arc stood in the center besides Chiron and Annabeth, his brother and one of his closest friends stood, stoic both looking at the ground listening to Chirons speech, tears glistening in their eyes.

"It has been two weeks since Percy went missing, we kept praying to the gods to give us a sign that he was still with us, or to give him back to us. But there has been no answer. Annabeth." It was fruitless giving him the reigns on talking about Percy. He barely knew him, didn't get much of a chance. She looked up and started to speak, trying to say a few words about Percy, with tears in her eyes. He was lost in his own thoughts for a while, looking down at the ground when he felt a familiar tug in the pit of his stomach, something that only ever happened when something was occuring. Or when he sensed another presence entering the viscinity of his Mist.

His eyes shot up from the ground, head scanning the crowd as he looked for someone who had come in, looking for someone who was getting comfy in their seat. He saw no one which baffled him, causing everyone to look at him in concern. It even made Annabeth stop mid sentence.

"Arc whats up?" She asked while sniffling, wiping at her eyes. His eyes scanned the Arena once more, focusing on everything this time. He scanned the seats, each face, the trees in the back, until his eyes stopped on a shadowy figure stood at the back by a pillar. He shook his head, a glare that could kill set across his face, a slow smile forming turning into a massive grin.

All the campers, Chiron and Annabeth followed his gaze as the figure stepped into the area, the light of the fire burning white in retaliation quickly becoming a column of fire.

"Percy!" Chiron exclaimed. "In all my years at this camp, I have never been so happy to see a camper return."

Annabeth growled from beside him, marching towards him before she charged at him nearly knocking him off his feet and making the situation between the two a little awkward.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" She yelled as she threw her arms around him and gave him a bear hug, too scared to let go for fear he'd disappear again. Noticing the quietness she released and pushed him back a blush starting up their faces as the firelight became brighter not helping the matter.

"I, uh, got lost." Percy mumbled, rather embarrassed.

"LOST? Lost where?" Annabeth questioned. Arc took this time to dive in his mind, a familiar face springing to mind as the first dream came rushing back to him, remembering the Caramel hair and Turqouise eyes. He knew exactly where his brother had been, thanks to Annabeth's teachings. Ogygia.

"Annabeth, give him some space. From his expression I have a sneaking suspicion he has something to share." Arc smiled teasingly as he already knew the answer. Annabeth blushed, looking back over to Percy, a small smile forming on her face.

"Really, you do?" Percy took a deep breath, thanking his brother in his head for the change of subject.

"Yeah. I know how to navigate through the maze. We need a mortal, and you're not going to like who I have in mind." He sighed, glancing to Arc.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - I Dare You To Enter

Chiron disbanded the campfire not long after Percy returned, sending the Campers back to their Cabins before the Harpies were released. The three walked as Percy explained himself, noting Annabeth's rising irritation.

"Why do we need _her _help? Why can't Arc help?" Annabeth glared.

"I probably could see it through the Mist, but it's the eyes of a full blooded mortal that is able to fully. If I was to see, it wouldn't be a fully visible, hard to see." Arc sighed.

"Look, Annabeth," Percy began, a sigh releasing from his lips, "We need Rachel's help, Arc says he can't and there is no one else." Percy tried.

The Blonde Daughter of Athena huffed in frustration, glaring between the two brothers. She sighed as she shook her head, her eyes turning to Arc.

"Arc, I know there are too many people already, but at this particular time it's just Percy and I. Do you mind coming with us on this quest?"

He hesitated for a moment looking at the pairs pleading eyes before he sighed and nodded.

"Yeah sure why not, your going to need to get to places by car so. Let me go pack some stuff and get my car ready. Get some sleep and we will leave in a few hours. You can sleep in the car some more on the way."

The three remained silent on their way back to their Cabins. Arc frowned as he followed the two. He noticed that Percy and Annabeth were walking a little closer to each other than normal, a small smile on his face. What on Earth had he missed at the beginning of Camp? Or was this just because Percy was back. He shook his head, saying goodnight to Annabeth and crashed on the bed once again. Like every night since that dream, he dreaded falling to sleep for fear that he dreamed of Camp again, or something worse this time.

Of course though, being a demigod no matter how much anyone wants a peaceful sleep, there's only an incredibly small chance of getting one, the majority of the time there will undoubtably be one of the stupid dreams. He saw Grover and Tyson running in the Labyrinth away from something behind them, breathing hard as they ran down corridor after corridor. The dream shifted so he was watching Luke in the Labyrinth also looking for Daedalus and his Workshop, a smile creeping onto his face in the dim light. He jolted awake, staring up at the bunk above him, still miffed on why they had bunks in their cabin seen as Poseidon wasn't meant to have kids in the first place, let alone more to fill the bunks in the room.

He sighed as he rolled out of bed, quickly jumping into the shower after noticing Percy's absence, although this time he could still tell he was in the Camp and hadn't vanished again. As he stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hair and shirt draped over his arm he flung the towel towards his bed, watching as it disappeared in the Mist. He looked to the bed in front of him, gathering all of his belongings as he heard a knock from the door.

"Yeah?" He called, pulling the shirt over head and placing the camp necklace with his late friends rings on, back around his neck.

"Arc? Percy told me to come and get you. It's quarter to seven and we need to leave shortly." She called through the door. He collected everything he needed and startled her when he opened the door and stepped out.

"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly as she swatted his chest, watching him throw the keyring to the floor morphing into the usual Mustang but a change in colour. Percy jogged over, coming from the Camps travel kiosk with some supplies just in case, throwing it in the boot of the car. He was thankful he enchanted the SWAT Van to keep everything placed in the back of it seperate from every other form of vehicle, otherwise that would've been a loud mess to clean up. They stepped over to the Sky Blue Mustang, waiting for Percy to climb into the back while he placed his rings on their respective hand.

He climbed in the driver's seat and turned on the ignition the cars V8 grumbled to life, probably waking every camper in their cabins in the process. The two of them slept in the back for the entire journey, Arc not minding but ultimately leaving him to his thoughts; driving in the relatively clear streets leading up to New York listening to Avenged Sevenfold, watching the traffic slowly build the closer they got to New York. Percy as per usual had forgotten to tell him where they needed to head too, having to pluck the information from his head while he slept in the standstill traffic. He grumbled in irritation, always hating the traffic build up around London, let alone in New York. He set the Satnav to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to find Rachel, unsure and confused on how Percy knew specifically she would be there at this time.

He pulled up an hour later due to the traffic all around New York thanks to the road works; and glanced at the time seeing it was ten o'clock. He pulled into the parking complex nearby, pulling up the handbrake in a spot in a dark corner at the back, hoping no one payed to much attention to them driving in.

"We're here." He called, hearing a startled grumble from the pair, shaking awake. They all stepped out, Percy and Annabeth yawning and stretching, apologising for profusely for falling asleep."Don't worry about it, you both looked like a cute couple sleeping with your heads on each other. It was adorable." He teased, laughing as the pair punched his arms, faces turning red.

He continued to laugh, pushing the Trident on the boot turning it into keyring form, whilst rubbing the arm Annabeth hit. Thankfully no one was around to see the car transform back into a keyring with three teenagers stood around it. They wandered out of the car park via the stairs, entering the noisy streets around, the baking hot sun bearing down on them from above. They made their way down the road for a time, walking past the busy people in suits talking animatedly on phones as they rushed to their offices, before coming across Rachel standing as a statue outside of the Museum. She was painted in gold, every visible part of her. Her clothes, her hair, her skin. Everything. She looked like she had just been touched by Midas.

Rachel was standing there as still as a statue playing the part well by not moving or blinking. He looked a little frightened up at the girl, at how unnaturally she stood as if frozen before glancing at his watch growing impatient at the golden girl ignoring the trio. He sighed as his eyes flickered down to a decorative sign which read - 'Donate to Schools Who Can't Have Art.' He sighed, grumbling to himself much to the amusement of Percy and Annabeth, whilst pulling out his wallet and chucked a few hundred dollars into the pot.

That woke her up.

Her eyes widened at his generosity as he thumbed through the remaining bit of money he had left inside, before he placed his wallet back in his pocket.

"Miss Dare, can you please stop being a statue now, I'm tired and can't be bothered to stand here another minute. We would be very grateful if you could give us some of your time." He sighed, irritation flaring slightly. People milled around behind her, people rushing past others ignoring them, only giving the girl painted gold a second glance every so often.

"Hey Percy. Annabeth." She gave the boy who looked a little like Percy a quizzical look. She ignored him, which annoyed him, and decided to address Percy instead. "Who is he? And how does he know my name?"

"I'm his brother and it's a long story, now, if you will follow us please, I'm in dire need of a coffee." Arc sighed irritably, wandering off to the bakery just down the road hoping they followed. Not long after they all entered the little family run bakery, a delicious cacophony of smells assaulting their sinuses, all the different variety of freshly baked treats on display in the cabinets. He turned to them, watching as they sat in a corner table just in the doorway.

"I'll get us something for breakfast, while you guys chat." Arc yawned, as he stood in line behind a couple of people, looking at the menu deciding what he wanted. When it was his turn he smiled politely at the barista, "Uhm can I get four Capuccino's in to go cups, one Blueberry muffin, a blueberry oatmeal, a breakfast croissant with sausage bacon and cheese, a roasted ham swiss sandwhich and a spinach and feta wrap please. Oh and a loaf of bread cut into slices please." He smiled politely to the girl ringing up his total when he heard a commotion from behind, the girls eyebrows knitting in concern, glancing over his shoulder.

"Hey everybody, these guys are Demigods and are on a quest, they have weapons too!" For goodness sake, he thought in his head, mentally facepalming. He wiped the minds of the few people that were inside the bakery of what she just said and waited for a few minutes before recieving his items. He thanked the girl once more, getting a friendly smile in response before he wandered back over to them, handing everyone their food and drink. He watched as everyone tucked into their food and drink, taking a bite of the croissant himself.

"You know Rachel, it's a good job I can erase peoples minds." He said bitterly, swallowing his food. Annabeth cleared her throat pointedly towards him, a glare being sent his way for talking with his mouth full, to which he at least had the decency to look sheepish about. He took a couple more bites of his food before wiping his hand with the napkin provided, before peeling the wrapper from around the soft muffin.

She shrugged and sipped her coffee. "So what were you talking about?" He wondered, before taking a bite of the soft muffin the taste of fresh blueberry hitting his tastebuds instantly. He washed it down with a sip of the freshly ground coffee, feeling more alert by the second. Annabeth enlightened him on the topic, finishing her sandwhich and swirling her coffee with a stick after adding sugar.

"So she is okay with leading us through? Where do we start then, we can't go to Camp because she can't enter to get in the Labyrinth." He chimed in, running his finger around the rim of the cup.

Rachel cut in. "Well first off. I need a shower and need to get changed at the hotel down the road. There's an entrance there. Does the entrance have a Greek D triangle?" Annabeth nodded her head looking stunned she knew something about Greek 'mythology'. She stood up after downing the rest of the coffee, thanking him for it, and they all wandered off down the street to the hotel, coffee in hand getting odd looks from passers by.

When they arrived in the basement after Dare was finished with her shower she was still drying her hair and covering the white towel with a dirty gold colour, all four of them looking for the symbol in the rather packed basement filled with washing machines and dryers, freshly dried towels and toiletries on shelves either side of the room.

"There." Dare said pointing at the wall towards the back of the room, the area in question covered by the shelves with the freshly washed towels ready to be placed in rooms above. Rachel was trying to comb some remaining golden speckles out of her hair, having a hard time of it. "I tried to open it one time but it didn't work, I think it's broken." Annabeth hummed in thought, touching the icon as she did.

"No. It can only be opened by the touch of a Demigod." She grinned at her knowledge, The two brothers smiled as they watched the symbol glow a faint blue and the wall slid open, a musty smell of pressurised air blasting their faces as the door opened for the first time in probably forever, if not never.

"Ladies first." Arc grinned at the two girls, earning him an eyeroll and another backhanded slap to his chest.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - The Fight

As they walked in, slowly creeping down the dank tunnel; the light from the basement behind them dwindling as the door groaned shut behind them. An eerie feeling settled over them, feeling like they were being watched. Rachel lead them through the maze, snaking through the corridors, somtimes coming back on themselves down another before they came to an oval room about twenty minutes later.

"Okay. You're just leading us through here without a clue on where we're going aren't you? I mean come on. This area looks new, we should be following old paths and places that look older. Like that one." Annabeth moaned, getting fed up with the Redhead. The corridor she pointed at was overgrown with roots and moss covering the once colourful mosaic walls. Rachel sighed, looking at the floor and turned to Annabeth, eyeing the two brothers at the same time.

"Annabeth, chill." She smiled speaking calmly. "I've been following a faint line on the floor this whole time, and said line currently goes that way." She explained, pointing to the corridor behind the two brothers. "Plus if we were to go down that way we'd meet our end so we go down that corridor now, because we seriously need to get moving as theres something big coming down that hallway." As soon as the words left her mouth a loud roar followed from the overgrown corridor, dust and pebbles falling from the ceiling as if ready to cave in.

They all started running, following Rachel through the winding corridors, the feeling of whatever was behind them was bearing in on them faster than they were running. They stopped, frozen in their tracks in another oval room, as the sound of footsteps reverberated over the walls. The sound was coming from every entrance way, the three circled around, Rachel in the center of them, weapons drawn. The dusters on Arc's hands shimmered back into the form of the rings once more. He could sense who it was standing down the other end of the tunnel in front of them.

Behind them in Percy's direction came two Dracnae hissing at the Demigods, beside them was something that rubbed salt in the wound for Arc. A corrupted Cyclopes grinning down at the four of them licking his lips hungrily.

"Luke's here. Percy put your sword back into pen form." Arc whispered to his friends, looking in his own direction, the Empousai clopped and clonked its way down the corridor, leaving the Turncoat son of Hermes on the other end of the corridor, the light gleaming off of his grissly scar. The Empousai growled at the Demigods, commanding the other monsters to disarm them and bring them to Luke. Arc quickly flicked his wrist to ensure his appearance was different to that of Percy's as to not give his identity away.

The Mist covered him, changing his appearance to look like a Son of Hecate, something he hoped he'd get away with, Green eyes and dark hair, not much of a change but hopefully the monsters around would fall for the trick and Luke wouldn't put two and two together looking at the two brothers. As they aproached the Dracnae snatched the weapons from Annabeth before she could even do anything, and walked them down the corridor towards an open area.

In the brightly lit arena, there was an ogre fighting a centaur in the center, the centaur unfortunately losing the fight. Looking up to their left they saw the enemy in this war smiling down at them, the Empousai getting comfy beside him.

"Luke." Annabeth spat distastefully and actually spat on the ground as if to get the bad taste his name brought from her mouth.

"Annabeth, good to see you again." Luke grinned a once perfect smile that would make a girl swoon, but knowing his true colours now an idiot could see the evil behind it. Percy growled and tried to move forward, the two Dracnae by his side restrained him hissing in his ears as warning and sticking him with their weapons. Arc stood beside the Cyclopes who could sense that his pressence was irritating the Demigod much to his pleasure, but unbenknowst to him Arc was ready to lose it at any moment.

The Empousai by his side looked and felt as if she were his queen. "Well, what do we have here then? My two favorite cousins, a mortal and-" He paused for a split second. Arc ensured that the Mist trick held up, hoping to fool the Trickster gods child. He scowled at Arc, growling slightly, wracking his brain as to where he'd seen him before, his tone changed to his old self as if he'd never turned, the way he remembered the first and second time they met all those years ago.

"I don't believe we have had the pleasure to meet, I'm Lu-" He was cut short by the small giant sitting next to him, grumbling in displeasure, jumping from his seat into the center of the Arena.

"Enough talk." He grumbled. "The two sons of Poseidon will fight." Arc's heart stopped briefly before it picked up, beating rapidly. He hid the shock on his face well and his eyes flicked to his brother. How did that thing know who they were? He hoped Luke's memory was still fuzzy on who he really was, but the look on his face was one of amusement, just staring at Percy, not at him as well. The small giant stalked around the center of the arena a rumble emitting from his chest. "Choose your weapon, Perseus." Percy looked at Arc and his friends, all of them finally noting their surroundings. A room filled of skulls, everything made out of bone.

"I am Antaeus, I am his favorite son! Behold, my temple to the Earthshaker, built from the skulls of all those I've killed in his name! Your skull shall join them!" Percy's mouth dropped, this thing was his half-brother and all around him was a big attempt to appease their father?!

"I choose Riptide as my weapon." he pulled it from his pocket, no one realising that it wasn't just a pen causing Luke to rub his face tiredly. He took the lid off his pen and it grew into his sword.

"Very well." Their half brother said while his weapon of choice appeared. The battle commenced. They stood sparring for a few minutes. Arc sat on one of the stone benches that circled around the outside of the mini arena, glancing at his watch.

Luke was watching the two fight with little interest, sometimes glancing at Arc and scowling, trying to remember where he had seen his face, or trying to remember his true face. Percy had some swipes at his half giant brother and where blood should have leaked, sand and dust took its place. The earth engulfed the giant's leg and its wounds were healed. Arc face palmed, remembering what he was taught by Poseidon all those years ago. How could he have been so stupid? Antaeus mother was Gaia, the Earth itself.

"Percy!" He yelled to his brother. " His mother is Gaia, when he is on the ground you can't harm him, the earth will continue to heal him." Even Annabeth looked momentarily shocked that he had told him this fact before her. Luke studied him further, the scowl getting deeper.

"A child of Athena perhaps. No you don't have her eyes, her hair or any resemblance to Annabeth."

"Annabeth. I have a plan." He explained to her in her head. He watched her nod the slightest fraction as he told her the plan, a grimace coming across her face as she felt the bindings loosen around her wrists, easy to slip out of. They watched as Percy was now suspending his half brother up on the chains above, swinging wildly from chain to chain as he attacked. Within seconds the monster disintegrated. Luke looked over to Percy once more, eyes growing wide as he finally saw through the Mist, probably with the help of Kronos; the realization kickng in. Too late.

"Now!" Arc yelled at the top of his lungs. The gift of Poseidon took over, the proximity of the Cyclops finally getting to him when he tried to pull a giant fistful of hair from his head. This startled everyone momentarily giving them all their chance. The bindings on his hands were broken in an instant as if they were made of paper, and the Cyclops went down with a bolt between his eyes. Annabeth tackled one of the Dracnae, stealing her weapon from the hissing monster, slashing at its neck where it disintergrated in an instant, the second finding a bolt between its eyes at the same moment, succumbing to the same fate. All of this happened in a matter of seconds as if time had slowed down for the Demigods.

Percy untied Rachels bindings before they all sprinted out of the arena, hordes of monster chasing after them with Luke screaming at the top of his lungs to bring them back. The horde of monsters came barreling down the tunnel after them, thankful they had picked the right way for Rachel to carry on following the trail. Arc was greatful for the enchantments his weapons possessed, firing shot after shot down the corridor at the monsters trying to squeeze down the tight maze walls over each other. The downside was that it seemed like Luke had the entire pit of Tartarus on his side, which he did, because the horde never seased coming. He couldn't cover them all in the Mist, until they broke line of sight. Percy brought out a silver dog whistle and blew into it. At first nothing happened, then a Hell Hound appeared and started to attack the monsters and protect their escape.

"Good Girl!" Annabeth and Percy said at the same time. They kept running, ignoring the confusion on Arc and Rachels face. Rachel was still leading the way, a slower pace than before catching their breaths, Arc yelled at them to keep going as he shot with precission into the horde of monster that had got past their Hell Hound. They ran for about twenty minutes until he was certain they lost them, covering everyone in the Mist. They stood in silence, panting.

"Where the hell did you get a Hell Hound From?" Arc wondered, pulling bottles of water from his pack, handing them to everyone, draining his in seconds.

Percy grinned at his brother, finding amusement in his confusion. "Quintus gave it to us if we ever needed help." He replied, baffling his brother even more.

"Who the hell's Quintus?" He waved his arms in the air in pure confusion.

"Camp trainer. We will rest here tonight." Percy said, looking around at the little alcove that looked as if it was made for them to sleep in. Arc pulled some sleeping bags from his bag that was like a bottemless pit to Rachel, not realising it was all coming from the Mist, tossing them to everyone and watched as they rolled them out.

"Food anyone?" He wondered, pulling some BBQ out of the bag that was sat in a cool bag, from dinner the night before. They sat in silence as they ate, frightened of the days events and incase something heard them. Arc not feeling very hungry sat on a ledge, leaning his back against the wall behind him, his leg on top of the other as he cleaned every weapon in his arsenal with a rag.

After twenty minutes of silence, he broke it. "I'll take watch, you guys get some rest." They all nodded gratefully.

"Wake me for next watch in a couple of hours. You can get some rest then." Percy offered, settling down but looking up at his brother.

"I'm good, I haven't really slept well since I came to your Camp, and if I do sleep I'll lose my concentration on the Mist shrouding our scent and Image. Plus at this point in time I'm starting to get used to lack of sleep." Percy looked up at his brother in concern as he waved him off, telling him to get some sleep. It was quiet for a while, hearing the soft breathing of the trio as Arc continued cleaning his weapons, taking extra care with Rachael's and Terry's weapons. He heard rustling, looking to his left and saw Percy pull his sleeping bag over to Annabeth after about an hour.

"Hey, you still awake?" He whispered softly, hoping his brother couldn't hear.

"Yeah, can't sleep. I don't like it in here." She replied. He gave them their privacy they wanted, tuning out of their conversation and watching the dark corridor stretching in both directions. His attention was brought back to the duo, a small argument emitting from the pair, rolling his eyes at the two. He watched as Annabeth pulled her sleeping bag a bit closer to his direction. She laid down and quietly sobbed.

"Annabeth, it will be fine. Percy. Percy is just being Percy but he's been through a lot lately, I know where he was when he disappeared. At the moment he is just being protective, because he cares for you." He explained, looking down at her all in her head. She looked at him, wiping the tears from her eyes and spoke back in her mind.

"What do you mean? Where did he go?" He sighed looking back at his brother, watching as he rolled over to his otherside so he couldn't see his face.

"A place of myth and legend. A place no one can return back to if they chose to leave." Her eyes widened as she looked over her shoulder at Percy. She went to sleep after that feeling a sense of dread from the place he went to. Arc sighed, looking down at his pistol, a form he rarely uses due to it rarely working with the constant feed of bullets in the never ending magazine jamming; and proceeded to tinker with it, finally able to sit down and make slight modifications to each of the enchantments.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Daedalus

He was lost in his thoughts for hours, just lying there looking at his rings and morphing them into different weapons, tinkering with every single one of them that fired a projectile of some kind to fix the ones that jammed or just didn't fire as efficently. He sighed glancing down at his watch groaning at how only a couple of hours had passed. He was bored. Why did technology have to be a curse for Demigods. He really could do with a phone right now just to play games on and even though he could hide his scent, he still didn't want to chance it. He banged his head lightly against the cold stone ledge cursing about everything.

He technically lied to Percy about the hold on The Mist he had. He could keep it over them all easily while he slept. Had for years, he just didn't want to face his dreams. They were slowly getting worse, pure nightmares depicting death, destruction and cataclysmic events around in the world. They became stranger by the moment, becoming a leader in many wars ones he didn't recognise. He recognised Camp Half Blood because he was storming it, monsters leading a charge behind him as Thalia's Tree fell, the border with it and in came the monsters. He watched helplessly as he slaughtered his new home, unable to do a thing, just hearing a laugh from the deep over and over like a record on repeat.

That's why he didn't sleep much anymore. He was tired of the dreams. He leaned his head against the alcove, staring at the moss above, before his eyes became heavy, slowly drifting off into a light, surprisingly peaceful sleep. He awoke first, an hour before everyone else and decided to make food for everyone. Pulling out a small camping stove, he set it on the ledge in front of him lighting it and placing a frying pan on top. He put some fresh bacon on the pan, letting it fry on each side before cracking three eggs into the pan, getting rid of all the rubbish with the Mist. He pulled three plates from his bag, hearing a long in take of breath from behind him.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Annabeth stretching, yawning as she ran her hand through her messy hair, looking as if she'd slept peacefully in her bed back at Camp. He grinned at the look on her face as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, lightly kicking Percy in the back to get up. He grumbled at the abrupt rude awakening, tapping Rachel's shoulder to wake up as Arc handed out the plates with bacon and eggs, with some bread he picked up from the bakery before they were on their way to the hotel the day before. They smiled and mumbled tired thank you's, grateful as they all tucked in, Arc clearing the mess once more with the Mist. He handed out some more water bottles which was on all their minds, too tired to ask, smiling once more as he looked at the trio.

"All of you so tired still after sleeping while poor old Arc got none last night." He said in a false angry tone, getting a snort in response from Percy.

"Yeah, don't act all innocent, I saw you sleeping when I woke up briefly, thinking I heard something. It was you snoring." He teased, watching his brothers face grow red while the girls giggled lightly at the look. Arc shook his head, smiling as he stood, looking down the long stretch of maze ahead, and the way they came before last night. Not long after, he flicked his hand at the mess, all of them disappearing in the Mist from which they came from, and they packed up camp, carrying on heading the way they needed to.

Walking in silence for a good twenty minutes, Arc checking behind them every so often, and down every other passageway they didn't head down to make sure they weren't followed. They soon came across a set of doors that looked like an elevator, the Greek Triangle glowing on the side of the wall beside it. Annabeth pressed the button, the doors sliding open in an almost Sci-Fi way, closing the same way as they all looked around the room in front of them. On the walls there was schematics all over the walls, covering nearly any bare surface of wall, much to the delight of Annabeth and four pairs of metal wings. They looked awesome. The tables were littered with blueprints and laptops on the desktop screen suggesting they had been used recently.

There was a spiral staircase to their left, something which Arc hated, with the window to their right depicting a beautiful hillside somewhere in Colorado. "Beautiful isn't it? The Labyrinth prefers this scene." A man said while walking down the stairs, startling everyone, causing weapons to be drawn.

"Quintus, what are you doing here? What have you done to Daedalus?" Annabeth growled staring up at the man.

Quintus smiled faintly. "Trust me my dear, you don't want to meet him." Annabeth was starting to lose it, anger building inside.

"Look Mr. Traitor, we didn't come all this way just to see you, Now Where is Daedalus?" She demanded, almost stomping her foot in anger. He walked the rest of the way down the stairs, sword in hand but by his side; dressed in his camp Half Blood counselor attire. He looked amused as he walked down towards them.

"You think I am an agent of Kronos? That I work for Luke?" He wondered as he sighed, walking past them as if they were no threat. As he got closer Arc's eyes widened, his eyes flew to the little mark on his neck that looked like a tattoo. No not a tattoo, a reminder of what he did to his nephew all those years ago. Arc stood, speechless jaw to the floor as he struggled to find words. Everyone stared at him, questions weighing on their minds on their friends strange behaviour. They couldn't see what he could.

"What is it?" Annabeth questioned. He was still looking Quintus up and down, the man in question finally noticing Arc's gaze, smiling as he looked down at himself then over to the others.

"Somebody realizes who I am, Daughter of Athena. Tell me Annabeth. What is Quintus in Latin?" He questioned.

"The Fifth but-" Her eyes caught the glimpse of the mark on his neck, the little bird; her jaw hitting the floor in shock like her friends did. "No, it can't be, you should be dead!" she mumbled in disbelief.

Arc cleared his throat, finally finding his voice after seeing the creepy shell he was witnessing. "Annabeth, that's not all. His name means the fifth yes? This is his fifth body. This is Daedalus. I can see it."

She looked at him in shock then at Daedalus. "The boy is right, I am Daedalus. I transferred my animus over 5 different bodies."

Rachel looked up at him, eyes shimmering in amazement, "That is so cool! You managed to transfer your animus into different machine bodies!" Arc raised an eyebrow, staring at her in disbelief. "It's weird, you may be able see through the Mist, but not as much as me. What I can see is plain weird."

A smile grew on Arcs face as the concerntration on The Mist which allowed him to read minds, was let loose. All he could hear from Percy was him going over different scenarios in his mind like. "LIAR" or "Yeah and I'm Zeus." But all that came out thanks to his kelp filled brain was.

"but you're not an inventor, you're a swordsman." Arc mentally face palmed, watching as his brother actually did. Yet again, Quintus/ Daedalus replied with rather an amused smile on his face.

"I am both." Percy spoke up, finding a more suitable thing to say this time around, he didn't much feel like embarassing himself for the millionth time.

"but why? Why spy on our camp?" Daedalus lifted his eyebrow, shaking his head briefly a slight frown on his face, as if it was obivous.

"To see if it is worth saving, of course. I have spoken to Luke yes, many times in fact. He is quite persuasive you know. And he told me his story, I came to your camp to see yours." He said bleakly.

"And?" They all said in unison. Just then, the hell hound came barreling in through the doors, licking Percy's face, then pouncing on her master.

"How's my old friend?" Daedalus cooed to Mrs. O'Leary as you would to a small child.

"You let her save us. The whistle worked." Percy wondered.

"Of course. Mrs. O'Leary likes you, I can sense that, I guess I felt guilty really."Arc's eyes slowly narrowed as the truth was starting to become unravelled.

"Guilty for what?" Daedalus let out a sigh, standing as he looked at the wall above all their heads, unable to meet their eyes.

"That your quest is in vain, the reason why you saw Luke earlier was because he has already came to me. He has the string. I'm sorry Annabeth, but you are several hours too late." Annabeth went ballistic, throwing easels and schematics on the floor. No one had seen her get this mad before, ducking as pencil's and pens flew over their heads.

"I used to respect you. You were my Hero! Now I don't know what you are. Children of Athena are supposed to be wise, not just clever!" Mrs. O'Leary pricked up her ears, Rachel the only one to notice in the heat of the moment.

"Someone's coming!" She cried. Just then there was another loud thud. Nico was pushed in through the door way, his hands bound in chains. Kelli, the Empousai and two Laistrygonians, came in followed by the ghost of King Minos.

Daedalus' jaw clenched, "Kelli, what is the meaning of this!?" He demanded to the Empousai.

Kelli looked rather amused a bitterly-sweet sarcastic smile on her cruel face. "Sorry, Luke sends his regards." Minos stepped forward into the light finally coming face to face with the tricksy inventor.

"Hello old friend, your time has come." The Empousai pounced at Percy, knocking Nico on the floor. Annabeth yelled at Rachel to hide behind one of the tables, while she witnessed Arc get backhanded by a Laistrygonian, and sent halfway across the room, slamming against the hand rail on the stairs. Daedalus confronted his old enemy whilst Percy and Annabeth took care of the Empousai. Arc struggled for breath as he stood, making his way to Nico's side as quick as his pain and lungs would let him, cutting the chains with the War Axe. He wielded his Stygian iron blade, and got to work with one of the Laistrygonians, as did Arc on the other, ready to get vengance on the way that beast hit him. After defeating them, they turned to see Annabeth, plunging her dagger into the back of the Empousai's neck, as she loomed over Percy.

Nico confronted Minos, a dark expression crossing his features, the room growing cold as he screamed in the apperitions face."I banish you back to the underworld, by the hands of the Ghost King." Minos disappeared wailing at Daedalus as he went, the rooms temperature reaching the level as it had before as Arc leaned over, catching his breath. He watched as the others caught their breath everyone keeping an eye on Daedalus, watching as he repaired some cuts on his arms. An explosion from the door brought their attention back to the enterance, looking in shock as another wave of monsters came barreling into the workshop.

"Go!" Daedalus Bellowed at them. "Take the wings and fly out the window!" Arc stayed, stood by his side along with his Hell hound, helping him fend of the monsters coming in with one of the newly tinkered pistols. The four of them flew out of the window, leaving him with Daedalus. He looked down at the Demigod at his side, sadness in his eyes before returning to the monsters.

"I can get us out of here by Mist Traveling." Arc yelled over the sound of his precise shooting, expertly missing the Hell Hound as it bounded around, almost playing with its prey. He looked really disheartened and defeated, Annabeth's words weighing on his mind.

"No, My time is coming to an end soon, I can feel it. Go I will be safe. And tell Annabeth I'm sorry. She was right. I should have sided with her. Kids of Athena should always stick together. Tell her she was right about being wise and clever and that I am an old fool." Arc nodded glancing up at the man-machine once more, getting a nod in confirmation that this was what he wanted, promising him he would tell her. A monster got a bit too close in the moment of distraction, a fist flying at his face, feeling a connection of a powerful strike as he mist traveled to where Percy and the others had landed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - He Awakens

He felt dizzy, the fist had managed to make contact just as he'd left, finding the left of his jaw. He could feel the force of the punch while he was making his way to where his brother and friends had ended up, yelping as he appeared hurtling towards the toilet walls behind him. He groaned as he heard his head thump on the wall behind, head in hands and rubbing his rapidly bruising jaw, struggling for breath once again, everyone turning to look at the commotion caused. It felt and probably looked like to the few mortals standing around, that he'd been hit by a lorry. He closed his eyes briefly helping to stop the world from spinning around him as he heard Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Rachel rushing to his aid.

"Arc, you alright? The hell just happened?" Percy wondered, as he started rumaging through his backpack taking out some Ambrosia and stuffing it into his brothers mouth.

"You look like you just got hit by a train." Rachel cringed, holding up her hair brush with a mirror on the back, showing him his reflection. Blood ran down his face, the wound slowly closing as he looked at the reflection, wincing as he breathed in feeling a cracked rib slowly start to mend itself.

"I feel it." He groaned. "Cheers Perce." He said, for the Ambrosia and for helping him to his feet. He stood for a moment leaning against the cracked wall behind him, waiting for the dizzy feeling to dissipate. "What happened was being punched in the face at full pelt by another Laistrygonian just as I got out of there." He wandered into the toilet feeling a little better and washed the blood off his face, as well as the dirt and grime that had accumulated on him, the water speeding up the process a bit more and making him feel ten times better. He looked up into the mirror, noticing the wound on his face was now healed, just a long scar was left in its place, hopefully it would fade or it was more to hide with the Mist.

When he stepped back out, the hot sun beating down on them, he saw everyone waiting for him grimacing when they saw the cut was healed but left a long scar down the side of his cheek. It still hurt him to breath but it was better than before.

"Annabeth, before I left, Daedalus told me to tell you he was sorry, and that he should have sided with you, not Luke. He said that if you can find it in yourself to forgive him he was an idiot, kids of Athena should always stick together just because you're clever doesn't make you wise at the same time." Her eyes began to water up slightly but she blinked away her tears and nodded.

"We have to get back in the Labyrinth, we need to find Tyson and Grover, and stop Luke from marching on the camp. Nico, you coming with us?" Annabeth asked clearing her throat from the bubble that was trapped. He nodded his head with a murderous look in his eyes, being locked up in chains and watching how he was treated it was understandable. Rachel sighed as she looked ready to die, looking at a hire car down the road, waiting to pick someone up.

"We need a car, I'll go talk to the driver of that hire car down there." She grumbled about to make her way to the car. Arc shook his head pulling the key from his pocket, removing the key ring and tossing it to the floor.

"No need. I can drive, I feel a bit better." They watched as the keyring morphed into the usual Mustang, hoping that mortals around them just saw the car pull up besides them. He waited outside with Nico, watching as the others to climbed in, hearing Rachel silently thanking him in her head.

Rachel sat in the back left of the car next to Percy, who was seated in the middle, and Annabeth to his right, Nico sat in the passenger seat, looking out of the window as he pulled away. Each of them looking tired from the events prior. He sighed as he looked at them all, beaten up and weary expressions on their features.

"Get some sleep, I'll look around for an entrance." He sighed, looking around all over for a place that would be good to hide an ancient doorway. He heard grumbles from them all, denying their tiredness making him smile as he pulled onto the motorway. Not long after however he heard nothing from everyone, just slight snores and the sound of breathing. Rachel had fallen asleep leaning her head against the back window, while Percy had his head slumped back on his headrest in a rather uncomfy position, with Annabeth using his shoulder as a pillow. Nico sat in a death-like state. He almost feared he was dead until he saw the slight rise of his chest. He really was the son of Hades, even the way he slept was like a corpse.

As he drove, Lamb of God pumping through the speakers, it took about twenty minutes until he spotted a place that would be perfect for an enterance. A mineshaft area. He took the next off ramp, the car morphing to his Rallycross car, finding it much easier to go over the rough terrain of gravel and sand; on the car and the people inside. It didn't take long to get the mining area, having to hide in the Mist to get past a guard checkpoint, driving another few minutes before he pulled up outside the old mining area that had been abandoned a long time ago; instantly seeing the Triangle which marked the entrances to the Labyrinth on the padlock holding the chains over the rusty metal door.

"Guys I found one." He called, pulling the handbrake up. The only person who seemed a little uncomfortable was Rachel in her sudden change of surroundings, watching as Annabeth and Percy stepped out stretching and yawning.

"Uh why is there now doors in the back?" She wondered in her head. Having just woken up, it startled her greatly by getting a response she wasn't expecting.

"Same car different appearance, courtesy of Hephaestus and a little more tinkering on my part." He explained out loud, stepping out of the car. He watched as the others stepped over to the entrance, waiting for him as hed put the car in keyring form quickly making his way over to join them. He watched as Annabeth pushed the triangle, the chains clattering to the floor from around the door, the door grinding open as it hadn't been used in years, revealing the walls of a mineshaft but towards the end was the beginning of the Labyrinth. They walked in slowly, cautious of a surprise attack from Luke or monsters, following Rachel as she snaked them once again through the maze; following the line to find Grover and Tyson this time. They all stopped after ten minutes staring at Percy as he started to sniff the air. Everyone joined him looking puzzled.

"Cough drops?" Arc wondered out loud, glancing to his brother who nodded in thought.

"Yeah like back at… Mt Tam." They all grumbled at Percy, watching him wander in the direction towards the smell, following him begrudgingly. They came face to face with another door, one decorated like the side of a cliff face on the side of a mountain. He pressed the triangle that was on the wall and it opened, filling the Labyrinth with an even more pungent smell. He stepped forward, poking his head through the opening.

"Percy, where are you going?" Annabeth hissed, ignoring her as he walked through. He came back seconds later, squeezing through the rock doorway.

"Yup Mt. Tam alright." He said glumly staring over his shoulder as the light disipated.

"What did you see?" Annabeth asked curiously, shifting her weight to the other foot, the others standing around the duo, Arc looking down the tunnel where they came from, looking out for anything that snuck up on them.

He hesitated, kicking the stones that littered the floor around them. "Bad stuff, Atlas is still cursing up there, and the Palace that was being built on there when we were here last, its finished. I have to go check it out." He turned to walk away but Annabeth grabbed his shoulder, swinging him back around to face everyone.

"Oh no you're not, I lost you once before, I'm not losing you again. We all go together." There was an awkward stretch of silence as Annabeth's words washed over them all, before he sighed stretching out his hand.

"Give me your hat, I swear I will come back." She hesitated, tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them away and gave him the hat shoving it into his hand.

"You better, Seaweed Brain." He smiled at the nickname, turning as he put on the cap. After five minutes of him not returning, Annabeth was starting to worry, "Arc-"

He cut her off, "Way ahead of you." He said as they exited the Labyrinth, shrouded in the Mist like before. They peered into the throne room in time to see Kronos had risen from the dead in… Luke's Body, through one of the windows on the front. They could hear Kronos's rough voice inside. Enough was enough, he wasn't about to let his brother die while he just watched. They burst through the doors, startling everyone inside as they turned to look. Percy had his sword in his hand and was about to attack, until his friends rushed in.

Rachel expertly threw her hair brush at Luke, watching as it hit the middle of his face. Momentarily dazed, Luke's voice responded, surprisingly to everyone.

"Ow." He grumbled as he rubbed his face.

"Time to go!" Arc yelled, turning and hoping the others followed as they went. They carried on sprinting back to the Labyrinth, feeling the earth rumbled beneath them for two reasons, they heard Kronos bellow with rage, and seconds later a large black stalactite had risen from the ground, courtesy of Nico, blocking the entrance. Everyone looked at him stunned as they ran, impressed with how quickly he'd accustomed to his recently discovered Demigod life.

"You know you just gave yourself away right?" Percy's wheezed, panting for air as they drew closer to the entrance.

"Doesn't matter, they were going to find out one way or another." He explained through pants, sprinting through the door of the Labyrinth. After about ten minutes of blindly running in the maze they all stopped to catch their breath. Arc leaned against the Labyrinth wall, still feeling pain from his healing ribs as he chugged a bottle of water, blindly handing some out to everyone. Annabeth broke down in tears, and started murmuring about Luke, feeling bad for the blonde, he knew they were close from the first time they met all those years ago.

Percy wanted to comfort her but in his mind jealousy and anger were too prominent towards Annabeth for still having feelings for Luke. After all they had been through, even the kiss they shared in Mt St Helen he couldn't believe her. Arc's eyes widened in surprise from hearing his brother's thoughts, it helped immensely with understanding their closeness and awkwardness these past couple of days, knowing the full story of events between them now.

Percy turned his face so his anger didn't show and he saw something on the ground that caught his eye. Arc looked over his brother's shoulder, looking at what he was picking up from the grimy floor. It was Grover's Rasta hat. He joined his brother by his side, the others making their way to the two brothers watching as Percy brushed the dirt and dust off of the cap. His eyes scanned the ground around them and spotted footprints and hoofprints. Everyone followed the two brothers, walking in the direction of where the footprints were were heading hope in shining in their eyes. The two sons of Poseidon both could hear the sound of running water up ahead and started moving a bit quicker, happy to find something with familiarity in the dreaded death maze.

They came out into a cave with a little stream of water that came flooding down from a mini waterfall from inside. The cave was beautiful, gems of different colours and sizes covered the walls, glinting in the pale light coming in from small holes dotted around the cave leading to sunlight. Percy caught a glimpse of Tyson cradling Grover at the streams edge. They jogged down to them, fearing the worst as Percy called out his half brother's name.

"Tyson!" His voice echoed through the cave, bouncing off of the walls around them.

"Percy!" Tyson's face lit up as he watched their approach. He shot up from beside Grover, who laid grumbling on the floor, and crushed Annabeth and Percy in one of his hugs.

"Arc, do your thing on Grover." Annabeth murmured, fear in her eyes staring down at her friend, fearing the worst. He grinned over at the blonde, shaking his head, putting her mind at ease.

"He's fine, He's just in a trance." Arc walked over to where his friend was lying, listening as he mumbled about Pan. "Hey Grover? I got some Pancakes and Tin Cans. You hungry?" He sing songed, his voice echoing in the cave as he approached, that did the trick.

He shot up looking hungry. "Yes please. Wait Arc?" He smiled up at him as he walked over to him, holding his hand out to the Satyr to get a hand up. Before he could however, he was attacked from behind, his heart stopping in his chest fear striking him as he didn't sense anything hostile. That was until he realised it was bear hug from Tyson, crushing every newly fixed bone in his body.

"BROTHER!" he screamed, squeezing his newly discovered brother tighter. A little pain-filled yelp escaped his lips as it felt like every bone in his body was being crushed.

He released his grip and everybody joined the pair next to Grover. "Dude what happened to your face?" Grover asked curiously as he stood up looking at the newly formed scar.

"Ah, I got punched by a Laistrygonian in Daedalus' workshop." He explained to a shocked Satyr. They stood conversing for a time about the little fiasco that just occured, as well as the part about Kronos; whilst he knelt by the stream, dipping his hand in the cold water, feeling better by the second as his body hummed with energy that was lost from lack of sleep, as well as helping ease the pain he was feeling thanks to his new Half brother.

"Great, he is awake. Well we are screwed." Grover said glumly running his hand wearily over his tired face. Silence. The Satyrs ears pricked at a sound, finally remembering why he was here as he rushed to the cave entrance behind, walking at a brisk pace to the opening mawe of the cave infront. They all followed him in looking on in awe as the cave walls opened out, seeing the beautiful cavern filled with precious gemstones and a bed that was made out of rocks and vines, around the bed was a lot of extinct animals, a wooly mammoth, a dodo and some weird snake lion hybrid. In the bed was the forgotten one.

Pan.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Protect The Camp

He watched in awe at the cave around glancing at Grover as he looked around the cave structure around them. They all watched, small smiles on their faces at Grover, watching as he made a three-sixty degree turn, before settling his eyes upon Nico; only now just realising he was with them. He was so quiet and blended in with the shadows, no one probably would have noticed him if you didn't mean to look at him.

"Oh Nico. Hey man, it's good to have you with us again." Grover grinned. Nico nodded, grinning at the Satyr, before everyone's eyes set upon the god Pan lying on his bed with the animals around him, stood protectively, ready to strike if the need was to arise. Grover dropped to his kness in front of the bed, glaring at everyone to follow suit.

"Lord Pan." He said, bowing his head. The old Satyr smiled kindly at them all, his eyes landing on the young Satyr before him.

"Grover. My brave Satyr. I have waited a long time for you." The god smiled kindly. Grover's face turned red, eyes lighting up in shock and addoration for the god of the Wild.

"Sorry, My lord Pan. I got lost." He admitted, trying to hide the sheepish tone. Pan laughed kindly, an amazing sight to behold, it was like the first breeze of spring. The cavern was filled with an odd humming sound, emanating from the Dodo Bird, affectionately pecking at its master's hooves.

"You have a humming Dodo?" Percy wondered in amazement. The god laughed once more, a smile lighting his old features.

"Yes Percy Jackson. This is Dede, she's my little star." Everyone sat cross-legged , astounded at the connection Grover had to Pan and everything in room, getting lost in conversation for a long time. Grover realised the reason why he was here, and addressed his Lord.

"Pan. You have to come back with us to Camp, the council will never believe me." Pan looked at the young Satyr, sorrow in his eyes.

"I cannot Grover. I am fading. If it wasn't for you Satyrs all these years, I would have faded a long time ago. It is one of the many reasons why I've loved your kind. You never gave up on me. The nature around you." He sighed, Arc knew the heavy burden he was about to place on the young Satyrs shoulders. "Only you can release me, Young one." Grover stared in astonishment, tears starting to make its way down his face.

"But I cannot. You are still needed in this world. The mortals are ruining it every which way they go, deforesting, littering, mining away the world around us. Only you can help stop it Lord Pan." The god smiled kindly down on the boy, resting his hand on his head.

"My boy, no one believes in me anymore, no one will believe anything these days. There isn't much an old god like me with little power left can do. It's from the Satyrs belief alone that has kept my powers up just enough to allow me to survive this long. Only you, one of a Satyr's kind can lay me to rest at last." Grover took a shuddering breath, knowing Pan was correct. Percy laid a hand on his friends shoulder, patting it and smiled sympathetically down at him.

"Yes, your're right. Lord Pan. I release you." A smile came across Pan's face. On his last dying breath, he told Rachel, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Grover one last thing. That they were all powerful in their own way, destined for greatness. Arc and Nico frowned slightly, glancing to each other before staring at the fading god. He obviously knew something they didn't about their futures. His smile never left his face as his spirit left his body as it swirled into them all, Grover getting the most of his god's spirit, so wherever they went they could spread the word of Pan, his teachings and do some good for the World they live in.

They all watched stunned as everything in the cave turned to dust, the animals, the fresh smelling air turning musty, even the bed turned into dust. The only thing that remained was the soothing sound of the water, and the shining crystals around the cave. Arc sighed as he stood looking around at the others around him.

"We need to get to camp, and fast. Luke will be there soon if he is using the string." Everyone understood and got up to walk out, heading into the dirrection of the Maze entrance. "Oh no, I have had enough of this place for one day, or however long we have been in here for. Stand still." Arc ordered. Annabeth and Percy knew what he was talking about, protesting.

"Arc no, the last time you did that it nearly killed you." Annabeth reasoned.

"There was four of us then, now there's seven." They both argued to no avail. He Mist Traveled all seven of them out of the cave and into the cool morning breeze of Manhattan. He stumbled slightly, catching himself on the corner of a building, trying to focus on his surroundings so that he wouldn't black out. He could feel the Earth spinning which didn't help his migraine that was heading his way, feeling the light around him slowly slipping away.

He stared up at his brother through blurred vision, all of them watching and waiting for him to collapse on the floor like last time. People walked around them in the streets, ignoring the six teenagers huddled around another, just keeping on track with their day. Arc thought back on last Winter with Thalia, Annabeth and Percy, he had collapsed on the floor in the throne room and blacked out and Apollo was there to heal him.

This time he wasn't here.

He could feel his heart beating twenty to the dozen, his breathing was of exhaustion and he was sweating like he had a high temperature. All of this was because he Mist Traveled and all he could feel was the strain of having three more this time. The pain was a hundred times worse.

"Give me a minute." He wheezed, panting in pain. He should have heeded Hecate's warning from when she first taught him that. _No more than three. Anymore and you could kill yourself. Demigods can't handle it, too mortal._

He closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down and breathe, his breath returning to a somewhat normal state a minute later. He heard Percy through muffled hearing telling Rachel goodbye, seeing her walking down the street in the opposite dirction, glancing over her shoulder with a worried expression affixed to face. He threw his keyring to the floor, A Land Rover Discovery taking the usual place of the Mustang.

He wandered, wobbly, over to the back, slinging open the boot and pulled out a bottle of water before climbing into the back of the car. He tossed the key to Percy, a look of shock and horror coming over his face.

"To Camp. Percy you can drive. You'll be fine, don't act like you don't know how too either, I heard about Annabeth's Dads camper van. Just keep it inbetween the white lines, under thirty, and you'll be fine."

He closed his eyes as he sensed Percy shakily get into the driver's seat, Nico sitting in the back next to Grover and Tyson. Annabeth climbed into the front, looking a little green at the experience everyone was going to have. "Plus it's not like you can harm us, or the car when in road mode, it doesn't get damaged along with the people inside." Arc mumbled, his eyes closed as he sipped the water, taking bites of Ambrosia every so often. He heard the car start up which was the last thing he heard for an hour. He was abruptly woken by the shoddy quick braking of his brother, banging his head on the back seat.

They all stepped out, Arc opeing the boot from the inside, pressing the Trident on the rear, the keyring returning to the key and the key to his pocket. As they trudged up the hill, they could hear Clarisse yelling orders at the top of her lungs, getting campers into formation for the inevitable attack that was about to happen. The ring on Arc's left hand formed into the newly made Martini Henry MkIV Rifle, loading the first round into the lever action rifle. His friends looked him up and down, staring at the gun in confusion. Arc shrugged defensively, patting the newly built gun.

"What? I like the classic's alright?" He mumbled, as they got closer to Chiron. He was thankful for the latest batch of enchantments on his bullets, only harming Demigods when he wanted, because his vision was still messed up. Chiron glanced up, relief spreading over his face as he laid eyes upon the six.

"Arc, do you mind going to Clarisse and going over some battle strat-" He was cut short when there was an explosive roar of monsters coming out of the pit, from Zues' Fist.

"BATTLE STATIONS!" Clarisse and Chiron yelled at the same time. Arc took a knee, aiming his weapon towards the pit, hoping the enchanted rounds and weapons in general worked.

Hordes of Laistrygonians came charging out of the pit and stumbled into the vials of Greek fire at the bottom of the pit dug around the outside of Zeus' Fist. The ones that fell in were disintegrated instantly but the wiser ones jumped over the pit and started running towards the camps first line of defenses. Chiron ordered Percy to hold back and let the ranged campers deal with the first horde. He obeyed, biding his time watching the Apollo Cabin and his brother hold off the first wave over the make shift barrier in front of them.

Arrows and bullets tore through the army of Laistrygonians, causing Arc to shake violently with every kick of the powerful weapon, booming around everyone. When the first wave was thinning down, there was another explosion of roars and two Empousai came charging out of the pit followed by some Cyclopes ranks. Again they were really starting to rub it in, Arc thought.

The camp watched as bullet after bullet was fired and fed into the chamber in quick succession, the empty shells flying and disappearing into the Mist, watching as he pulled one after another from the Mist. Waves of Water came flooding over the top of the first line of defense, some campers falling to some lucky shots from monsters Arc couldn't get to. Percy must have been feeling left out, as he came and stood beside his brother, manipulating the stream nearby, sending the water several feet in the air surrounding the army with it. He gestured to the army with his fist, causing the water to hurtle towards them with so much pressure they all disintegrated instantly.

In the process they could hear Grover yelling at them over the sound of everything, just barely. "Percy! The trees! They're on fire. Put them out!" He obeyed, releasing the water while his brother was still hard at work, the gift of Poseidon starting to make an appearance as he watched more and more campers fall, faster than he could fire. His ring morphed to Terry's Sword, flicking it to the ground as it extended to the long reaching spear, the ring on the other changing to his Shield. Chiron and Clarisse instructed the remaining ranged campers to fall back, and the melee groups took over, rushing into battle alongside the Three Sons of Poseidon, Daughter of Athena and the Son of Hades, brandishing his Stygian Iron Blade. They had destroyed everything momentarily in front of the pit, Arc swinging the spear in his hand as it retracted into the sword variant, tasting blood, or dust, for the first time in a long time. More monsters came flooding from the pit, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Nico and Tyson stood by his side.

Then it appeared. Kampe crashed through the pit and let out a deafening screech. More monsters came flooding out of the pit, now wider to allow more to rush through. "how many monsters does he have on his side?!" Percy screamed swinging wildly into the horde of Monsters that got too close. Arcs weapon changed to the War Axe that belonged to Rachael, dismembering monster's arms with the sharp twin bladed weapon, watching as the remaining Apollo campers took aim and fired upon Kampe. As they fought the beast, some of the campers were being overwhelmed, left and right some laying on the ground not moving. Everyone momentarily stopped, staring at Nico as he raised some of the dead from the underworld and commanded them to protect those who needed it, to the astonishment of others around him. Deafening roars were heard once more from the pit, a commotion coming from within the monsters ranks as a hell hound came bounding its way through tossing some Dracnae as she came to the Demigods.

A huge whislting sound was heard as everyone looked up just in time to see a ton of rocks came hurtling towards Kampe and flattened her like a bug. The Hundred Handed one appeared. "BRIARIES!" Tyson cried out.

"You were right Tyson, I am done with being a coward." He smiled and fought by their side, Arc looking around at the collection of Halfbloods fighting side by side with a Cyclops, the living dead, a hell hound and a Hundred Handed One. Daedalus appeared at the hell hounds side, looking down at the Halfbloods beside him. They all looked stunned at the new arrivals that came to help. And following them unfortunately was every monster that was in the pit.

The war raged on for far longer than it should have, Campers falling left and right as arrows rained upon the monsters once more. He felt it before he saw it. An explosion from in front him sent a large splinter off of the tree, impaling into his side. He gasped in shock, falling to his knees as the Red Aura around him vanished, listening as Grover let out a piercing scream; the monsters in retaliation retreating back into the pit. The remaining campers formed a wide circle over edges of the pit in case they attacked once more, while the still standing son of Poseidon flooded the chamber with the stream, hearing cries from within.

He struggled for breath as he flicked his wrist, stuffing his mouth with more Ambrosia, the sweet lemony treat on his tastebuds. He grunted as he tore the large splinter from his side, feeling arms wrap around him as his brothers helped him get to the stream in front of them. He sat waiting for a moment, looking around at the destruction around him, listening to the deafening quiet around them. The Camp rushed around as they took stock on the amount of campers lost in comparisson to medical supplies. He flicked his wrist once more, the medical supplies trippling in stock as he watched the remaining Apollo campers rushing around tending the fallen. He stood shakily, ignoring Annabeth ordering him to not move, looking to Chiron as he talked to Percy about Nico. Arc rushed around with Chiron healing those who need it and trying to revive those who had fallen, ignoring the pain he was in from his still healing wounds.

Dionysus's son had died in the battle and he only had two kids who were twins, he looked over to the god of Wine, comforting his only son touched at the scene he was witnessing. A few Ares kids had fallen in battle as well as some of Aphrodite and Hephaestus kids, and a lot of Hermes and Apollo Campers. He made his way over to where his friends stood in the infirmary, tears streaking all their cheeks, mixed with blood from the newly opened scar and wounds on their faces. Arc was past the point of caring about his appearance, he was disgusted and ashamed that he couldn't do more for those that died before he arrived to them or just as he arrived to help, giving their final words to him, haunting his dreams for a long time to come.

Daedalus had just given Annabeth his laptop prior to his arrival which had everything on it that you could imagine, inventions and software wise anyway. All of the projects he couldn't make or didn't have time to start were given to Annabeth, to do with as she saw fit. He then proceeded to shut down his robotic body and disintegrated like the monsters on the battlefield, the Labyrinth under the earth doing the same, feeling the ground shudder violently like an earthquake. That night they held the ceremony for all the campers that fell in the Battle of the Labyrinth and burnt them with their shrouds. A proper send off to the gods. Dinner was a bleak event, as everyone sat around too exhausted and grief stricken to talk.

Arc made his way to the Poseidon cabin, showering before crashing on the bed, not even realizing that Percy had come in and collapsed on his bed in exhaustion too silence overshadowing everything in the cabin. The next morning he was looking over blueprints with Annabeth, helping the Athena cabin with remodeling and fixing things that were damaged last night in the war. He found Percy with Mrs. O'Leary, Daedalus gave her to him to look after, in the fighting arena and Grover was talking to the Cloven Council about the events with Pan.

Of course they didn't believe him, but two people did, one didn't surprise him but the other did. Dionysus. Arc looked around at the Camp surrounding him, his breathing picking up its pace as he went over the events yesterday. He was having a panic attack, he struggled for breathe, Annabeth finding him behind his Cabin, sitting beside him and trying to calm his erratic breathing.

"Whats happened? Talk to me. Breathe." She soothed rubbing his back. His breathing slowed as he thumbed the rings around his neck, helping him relax.

"Everything just hit me at once. I just thought about the events yesterday and then back to my camp and how close it was to becoming a repeat of my camp. It just got to me so much that _He_ nearly won, again." He explained, his breathing slowing as Percy came and sat next to him, sensing something was wrong with his brother. "I need to get out of here for a few, clear my head." He explained, standing and dissapearing in the Mist before anyone could stop him.

He appeared in England, thankful it was the weekend and there was a race meeting on for the _British Touring Car Championship. _After buying his ticket he sat in his car, in a camper van form as he sat watching motorsport for three days straight, helping clear his mind and ignoring his Friends calling for him in his head. When Monday rolled around, he sat in his car after paying for a track day, spending his time driving around on track over and over in his Rallycross car in race mode, driving at high speeds helping clear his mind.

He felt refreshed.

He glanced at the time, driving out of the gates onto the open road, sighing as the time read five in the evening. He drove down the road a while, aimlessly before taking a short turn down a country road, and Mist Travelling to America, a few miles away from Camp. He drove in silence, feeling better and more himself again, driving up to Thalia's Tree where he stepped out, pressing the Trident and walking past the Dragon still happily guarding the Fleece. He wandered into camp, thankful it was Lunch time and entered the Dining Hall, sitting opposite Percy. He stared daggers at his brother, shaking his head while Arc smiled innocently like he didn't just up and leave and ignore everyone for three days. He was ambushed when he got up after lunch.

"And where in Hades did you go for three days? We were trying to get a hold of you, you know!" Annabeth yelled.

"Went to clear my head, I told you. Went to a race meeting and thought of things and then drove around the track all day." He explained. Annabeth face palmed, shaking her head as Percy grinned.

"I can tell. I can smell burnt rubber on you." Grover teased.

"You are such an imbecile." Annabeth teased, eliciting a laugh from him.

"It is nice to know you all don't want anything to happen to me but get used to it, I'm going to be disappearing a lot. I mean I may be a Demigod but racing helps clear my head in an odd sounding way." He reasoned. "I'm not going to be disappearing on you all forever because I had been attacked by monsters, I can look after myself." He grinned. Annabeth shook her head, still fuming as everyone was somewhat laughing at her expression.

"You really are Percy's brother." She huffed. They all laughed, walking off to the pier near the lake, ready for the teaching lessons for Percy and his brother.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Happy Birthday

No one realised at first that it was August Sixteenth only a few days after he'd returned, looking at the calendar for Camp activities. Being in the Labyrinth had made time go by so quickly that no one had realised it was two days before his and Percy's Birthday. They didn't mention it to the camp, not wanting a huge fuss from them, especially from everything that had just happened it seemed a little disrespectful. Percy had invited his two brothers home for the day, Arc driving the two in his sky blue F-150. He felt nervous, as they neared his mums New York apartment, tapping the steering wheel much to Percy's amusement. He'd kept his word to his brother, he hadn't told his mum of the fact she has another son. This was going to be a difficult afternoon.

"You alirght Arc?" Percy wondered, a small smile on his face. He glanced to his brother from the corner of his eye, nodding and humming, listening to Rush as he slowed down to a stop behind a Corolla at a traffic light.

"Why wouldn't I be? Its not like I'm about to meet my mum for the first time ever and probably give her a heart attack at the news." He grumbled, as he started up again, turning left one more time, running his hand on his trousers as he pulled the handbrake up when he parked in a space below the apartment complex. He looked at his brother, catching the roll of his eyes as he stumbled out of the car, opening the rear door for Tyson.

"Oh stop over exagerating, it'll be fine." Percy smiled. They watched as he locked the car, making his way to the entrance with Percy and Tyson, waiting in the elevator until they reached the seventh floor.

He tapped his foot nervously, hearing the footsteps from within, not long after his brother knocked. He tried to calm his breathing, realising how this situation was going to pan out.

"I don't think I can do this, Perce." He muttered, eyes looking to the white painted underside of concrete stairs.

"Oh suck it up, you promised on the Styx you would, you can't back out." Percy grinned, cornering his brother.

He hummed, remembering the day, his nervous energy causing problems, unbeknownst to him, with his power over the Mist. He stood off to one side by the window, breathing deeply the cool air as it helped calm him.

The door was unlocked not long after, Sally popping her head around the door, smiling widely at Percy. She greeted Percy and Tyson with open arms unable to see him stood behind the two, giving him a reasonably awkward feeling.

"Happy Birthday Percy." She smiled. Percy was right from what he'd told him of their mother, her smile could light up a room. "Come in you two, come in." She waved, still ignoring him. Percy frowned, turning looking down the stair case, before catching a glimmer from the corner of his eye.

"Arc?" Percy frowned.

He noticed the confused expression on Sally face as she looked down at her son. He looked down at himself, realisation hitting him as he climbed back up the stairs.

"Sorry about that, I was double checking I'd locked the car." He half-lied. "Hi I'm Arcmelos." He smiled politely, his tone shakey.

"It's lovely to meet you." She smiled, ushering them into their apartment. They sat down on the sofa, Sally excusing herself to the kitchen to get the food she'd prepared for them to eat, while he examined the house she lived in.

He was impressed, a hard working mum that had a lot going on, on her plate at the moment could afford a nice apartment like this in the middle of New York. She entered the room, a tray in hand full to the brim with blue pancakes.

"It's lovely to meet you. Percy didn't tell me anything about you so I'm sorry about that." She looked pointedly at her son, Percy ready to protest.

"That's alright m-Ms Jackson." He caught himself.

"Sally, please." She smiled warmly, pointing to the food. "Help yourself before these two finish it off." She grinned. He shook his head in response taking a long intake of breath watching Percy and Tyson shovel the pancakes in their mouths.

"That's alright. I don't tend to eat when I'm out." He lied, glancing up to his mother.

"So Arc, how do you know Percy?" She wondered, lifting her coffee to her lips taking a tentative sip. Percy stopped mid fork to his mouth, glancing at him, swallowing the food.

"I'm from camp." He began, looking to his brother for help, who just shook his head, confused on how to handle it himself. "Ms. Jackson." He started, getting a pointed look in response. "Sally." He smiled before continuing. "So. Do you know Poseidon?" He started cautiously, running his hand on his trousers. She looked momentarily confused at his nervous response.

"Yes?" She said slowly with a cautious tone, lowering the coffee cup to the table in front of her. He cleared his throat looking to his brothers for help once more, watching as they shovelled food into their mouths, shaking his head realising he wasn't going to get any help from them.

"Well. He is also-" He was cut short by a man coming in through the front door, poking his head around the living room door.

"Hello Percy, Tyson. Happy Birthday Perce." He smiled, setting his laptop bag on the table at the back, removing his shoes, taking a second glance at Arc. "Oh. I don't believe we've met." He smiled, coming over to him and holding out his hand. "I'm Paul Blofis." He smiled, as Arc shook his hand in return.

"Arcmelos, but I go by Arc for short." He explained smiling.

"Whoa. You're from England? Are you an exchange student I didn't know about?" He wondered looking to Sally. She shook her head looking up at Paul.

"No, he's friends with Percy, he's come from their summer camp." She smiled to which Paul nodded.

"Oh, wow. You're a long way from home. How are you finding America?" He wondered as he perched himself on the arm of the chair besides Sally.

"It's been. Eventful." He smiled, shaking his head. "I'm in search of my mum. We were seperated at birth by my father. In a mutual way I mean. It was a complicated birth." He explained, hoping the two wouldn't draw to the two brothers similarities.

"Oh. Well thats rather upsetting." Sally frowned, looking towards him. "I hope it goes well." She smiled sympathetically, watching as Paul nodded and excused himself. "Sorry, Arc. What was you saying before? Paul doesn't know about this side of all of you yet." She explained to which he nodded in understanding.

"No thats completely fine, I imagine it will come to a shock. If you need help calming him and breaking the news, I'm very useful with the Mist." He smiled, looking up at his mum. "Right. uh. Well as I was saying, do you-"

Fate was apparently against him as he heard a knock at the door, sending his already erratic nerves into more of a frenzy.

"Sally! Can you get that? I'm a bit busy!" Paul called in an apologetic tone. She tutted as she stood, making her way to the door.

"Sorry, Arc." She sighed, making her way to the door. Percy and Arc heard her gasp, standing to see who it was, fearing the worst; having weapons ready at hand just in case. When they made it to the door, it was opened wider, and at the door was someone that was going to make matters for him a little bit worse.

"Hello Sally, is it ok if I come in? I need to speak to my boys." Poseidon wondered. Sally squeaked at the god, unable to find the words before standing to the side and letting him pass.

"DADDY!" Tyson screamed excitedly watching as he started jumping on the spot, his heavy footedness making us all fear he'd fall through the floor. Sally walked back over to the table looking a little flustered, Paul coming out of the kitchen with a coffee in his hand, spotting the man in their living room.

"Hi I'm Paul Blofis, Nice to meet you." Paul smiled, hand outstreched.

Poseidon looked amused, his eyes lighting up like a child. "Blowfish eh? I love Blowfish." The two brothers supressed a laugh, looking up at their father. "I'm Poseidon. Percy and Tyson's father." He smiled shaking Paul's hand.

"Like the god of the sea. Awesome." Paul responded, nodding his head in appreciation. A thought crossed Paul's mind, as he looked shocked at Tyson first, then at Sally.

"Oh he isn't mine, dont worry." she smiled hoping Tyson didn't hear, but he was too enthralled at his Father's pressence. The two brother's looked up at their father, Arc actually able to meet his eyes for once after the way he was raised, but held no resentment to his father anymore.

"Whats up?" Percy wondered, as Poseidon looked amused down at Tyson. He tore his attention away from his Cyclops son, looking down at his twin sons.

"Ihave come to wish my boys a happy birthday of course, you will both be reaching manhood soon." Sally chocked on her coffee, sputtering as it flew from her mouth, Paul quickly rushing to get some paper towels to clean it up.

"Boys?" she wondered out loud. Poseidon looked down at Arc, an uneasy look on his face, still unsure on how to act around him.

"You haven't told her yet?" He wondered, as Paul came back in, Sally appologising to him about it.

"I was about to when you knocked." He sighed another nervous breath. "Paul, sorry about this, I know I don't have a place to say it because it's not my home but can you give us a minute please, I kind of have some explaining to do thats a little bit private." Arc explained, rubbing the back of his neck, putting some weight to his words using the Mist.

Paul nodded in response, exiting the room and closing the door behind them, everyone staring in stunned silence at him.

"Sorry about that, this is Demigod related and now that Poseidon is here its just going to speed up the process and help me explain everything." He rushed, looking at his two brothers and mum sitting in silence.

"Ms Jackson, I'm not sure how to put this." He began cautiously, looking up to Poseidon. "I'm. I'm your son." He breathed, looking to her shocked expression.

"I was the first born of you by about five minutes, I think you said." He looked towards his father whos face was blank, nodding in seriousness. He looked back to his mothers face who sat in stunned silence, face paling.

"But-What-I'm so. What?" Sally babbled in a confused manner, staring at the two as if it was a practical joke they were playing on her. "If this is some kind of joke I'm not finding it funny." She said plainly, looking at the two who shook their heads, Percy nodding in reassurance to his mum and them.

"It's not. There was complications with the birth. Well. Demigod complications anyway. I was shrouded in an extremely thick layer of Mist, a bit like out on the landing when you first met me, where no one could see me. You, the nurse's the Doctors. Even in the womb I wasn't able to be seen by the ultrasounds. Poseidon intervened thinking that it was a ploy on his childrens lives because he'd broken the Ancient Rule, but when he saw Percy come into the world and everyone took care of him, he knew something was wrong. Especially when he entered the room and sensed the heavy layer of Mist around me. He took me to England, to be raised there by a child of Aphrodite and Hermes, because. Well I'm not sure why he took me there instead of Camp Half Blood, you never did tell me." He said pointedly up at Poseidon.

"We'd settled there before moving west here in America, it still held some remnance of Power for the gods meaning we could go there and not suffer any consequences. Not many go to England very often, only on occasion so the Camp in London was just far enough out of the Range of the gods to detect me, so I could raise you in peace, with the help of others." He explained looking down at his nodding son, finally understand it all.

"So, where was I? Oh yeah. I was raised in London for the first few years in my life before I recently made my way to America, getting help with being trained in using The Mist around me effectively, and training from others but thats not important, I will tell you all of that at a later date." He waved off, looking at his mum and Father, glancing to Percy who sat beside's Sally. "I was the one that was following Percy for a while too. That black Mustang you all kept seeing? That was me." He explained nodding to the car park downstairs, hoping that the car shimmered into the Mustang below.

"I. I don't know. I just wanted to know who you were but something kept holding me back. I was nervous about everything. Percy had just learnt about a half brother the previous year and then meeting his actual brother a few day later would've just been mental, I feared what he would think. Both of you. Thinking. Well you said it yourself earlier, think it was a cruel joke." He breathed, staring at the glistening eyes of his mum.

"Poseidon isn't to blame for any of this, I imagine he wanted to tell you in some way shape or form but having one child is already bad in the eyes of the other gods let alone another, it would've caused massive problems. And it did. I spilled the beans last Winter on Olympus after they saved Artemis about who I was to the gods. The ones that I'd done work with in the past were fine with who I was, but those who didn't wanted me killed. They saw me as a threat. Someone that could just drop off the face of the earth, away from them and I could turn everything upside down for them." Thunder rumbled in the distance, not too far away from the Empire State Building.

"I think I've said too much on this part of the subject. Basically I was raised by Poseidon and the two others I mentioned, and being I so far away from his seat of Power it was easier to mask. And I told Percy to keep me a secret for now because I kind of guessed how you'd react, a bit like this, a very much strange tale of events." He said tentatively, eyes brimming with tears, with his breath held in; frightened to release it as she looked at Percy, Poseidon and him, tears falling down her face. Poseidon cleared his throat helping relieve the tense air around them.

"Sally, I suppose the abruptness nature he has is partly my fault. He is your son as he said, this is no trick, no lie. He has told the same story to everyone. Camp, Percy, Annabeth. Just not you, until now, and I'm sorry that you were the last to know. I suppose in my taking him to England it may have caused a little bit of a confidence issue but he still was raised well, so he could grow up to be the person he is today."

"Yeah a guy that loses everyone he loves and has a bad temper, I'm a real role model." He grumbled sarcastically beneath his breath. "And I wouldn't really say you raised-." Poseidon shocked him by cutting him off, when he swatted his leg with the back of his hand, glaring down at him. "Sorry." He whispered in response.

They all sat with bated breath, watching Sally as tears, leaked down her face, watching as she stood pulling him to his feet and wrapping her arms tightly around him. This was an odd thing for him but it felt right, like he was finally back home.

"My son." She choked, holding his face in her hands finally noting the comparison between him and Percy, seeing the features of her family line in him. Poseidon sighed, nodding to the door at Percy, him following as Arc and his mum caught up, letting them have a moment and talked to Percy and Tyson in private. "So." She sniffed, wiping her eyes of tears as they sat beside one another. "Tell me. What's England like?" She wondered.

"Cold." He smiled, hearing a bubbling laugh from his mum. "It's nice, it has its moments. Well had. I'll tell you the story at another time, I don't want to dampen the mood." He explained, clearing his throat.

"What is all this about helping the gods then?" She wondered, lifting her coffee cup from the table and bringing it to her lips.

"Well there was Hecate, she helped me with controlling The Mist around me, helping me understand it, how to use it. I can talk to people in their minds, read them too. I can Mist Travel which is how I get around, its like what the gods can do only no one goes blind when I do it because they can't see me when I do it. I can change how I look and hide my scent, which from birth came in handy with Poseidon only realising not long after I did. Then there was Ares, I know that him and Percy are in a bit of a rough patch, we both are now a little I assume. Now he knows who's Son I am I don't think there will be any more help from him. But that's off topic.

"He taught me how to fight a lot more than I was getting from camp, helping me discover an Aura deep inside me that basically makes me a fighting machine called the Gift of Poseidon, a very rare power that Demigods can inherrit. Apollo I helped with something that I won't go over yet, maybe a later date again, then Hephaestus who helped me in forging weapons as I was useless with bladed weapons at the time. And I think that was it. I helped them with a few favours in return for help in their specific areas of expertise." He finished, Sally looking shocked down at her son, just as Paul re-entered the room, wondering where Poseidon and Tyson had gone, Percy following behind him.

Thankfully it didn't take very long to convince Paul that they had left not too long ago, and that he must have not heard the front door go. It was handy knowing how to trick people with the Mist, he thought.

"So, Paul. I've just been informed by Poseidon that Arc is my son, apparently there was a mix up at the hospital and he was labelled under someone else, who later put him up for adoption. I was heavily sedated at the time and I had no idea about a second son, the hospital holding it from me. Poseidon was lucky to find him." She lied, Arc helping with twisting the lie with a bit of Mist helping it work on Paul, getting certain areas out of the way from him like suing the hospital for instance.

"Oh, thats incredible. This must be very emotional for you both then, I can understand why you wanted me to leave for a moment." He smiled kindly down at him.

"It was, thank you for that by the way. Poseidon was a little tied up overseas in London this whole time, that he couldn't find the time to bring me back over until recently. Although it wasn't my first time being over here, I'd snuck off on multiple occasions in search of my mum, but I was also preoccupied myself at times." He smiled sheepishly, rubbing his hand through the back of his black hair. "I might have made a bit of a name for myself on purpose hoping that it would help draw attention to the right people but I think I did it in the wrong crowd." He explained, sipping the water Percy had brought him.

"What do you mean? You weren't doing anything illegal were you?" Sally pushed, eyes narrowing slightly. He choked on his water slightly shaking his head profusely.

"No, no nothing like that. I went into Motorsport in hopes that it would draw attention." He lied. "Can I borrow your phone briefly?" He wondered, as his mum handed him her phone. He quickly searched in his events in WRX and X-Games, showing them to Paul and his mum. "So a couple years ago, I was the youngest person to become the champion in the X-Games and the World Rallycross Championship The final for the WRX was in New York, not too far away from Long Island and I won the X-Games in LA." He smiled at their shocked expressions. "Then a month ago in Le Man I won in my class." He grinned.

"How did I not realise, I watched that as well, completely oblivous to it all." Paul muttered in amazement. "I should've been able to put two and two together, when I met you. I thought you looked a bit familiar." Paul laughed.

The conversation shifted back to Demigod stuff when Paul excused himself to check on dinner, Percy following and going to his room briefly.

"So, I assume that was a lie?" She wondered. He shook his head, handing her back the phone.

"No, not all of it. Just the years. I've been racing since I was six really, I was very mature for my age thanks to Poseidon and the two people that helped raise me, so I changed how I looked to be older to be able to compete. The real year for both of them was Two Thousand Two. I'd also accidentally met Annabeth, Thalia and Grover, and the other one, for the first time back then too. I'd just won and the Championship when they stumbled across me by accident, thanks to Grover's keen sense of smell while I was a bit busy concentrating on the race." He smiled. They heard Percy clear his throat behind, both turning surprised to see a certain son of Hades. "Nico?" He said, staring in shock. He nodded to them, smiling kindly at them both.

"Hello Arc, Ms Jackson." He smiled, shaking her hand, the first time they were meeting.

"Well this interesting." He thought to himself. "Three of the most powerful demigods in existence, all in one room. It is a good thing I can mask our scent." He mused to himself. They sat and talked for a while, as Paul offered Nico something to eat and drink. He accepted gratefully as he politely ate the food offered, talking about how they all knew eachother, the answer being the same as before, him being from Camp.

"Sorry, is it alright if I use your toilet?" He wondered.

"Of course, you don't need to ask." She smiled. They were both still trying to get used to him being there, it felt really odd to them both. One knowing about everything and the other being in the dark for Fifteen years of their life. He was shocked when he was pulled to the side, seeing Nico by his side as he was walking to the bathroom.

"I've already spoken to Percy about this, but in case it isn't about him, I want to tell you too." Nico explained, looking behind them to make sure that no one followed.

"Tell me what?" Arc asked, treading carefully as they stopped, whispering outside of the toilet.

"About the Prophecy, I think I know of a way to get the upper hand on Kronos, but Percy said he would think about it. I wondered if you would take the chance as well, just in case it's about you." He explained, leaning against the wall. He delved into his mind, getting the jist of what he had planned.

"Nico I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think they know about me. Well they do because Luke saw my face, but they don't know how to get to me, I think I will be fine." He assured him. Nico nodded, smiling slightly up at him, looking down the hall once more to the door.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But if you change your mind, there's an entrance in Central Park thats a near on direct route to the River." He patted his arm a couple of times before turning around. "Oh. Happy Birthday by the way. I'll see you around." Nico grinned, dissapearing into the shadows. He stood, looking shocked, amazement in his eyes. Did he just shadow travel? He thought excitedly. When he returned, he sat back down beside Percy who was talking about Annabeth to Paul, a topic Percy seemed to be enjoying a lot.

"Have you met Annabeth, Arc?" Paul wondered, looking over at him. An evil smile grew on his face, as he nodded.

"Oh yeah, they'd make a great couple. I caught them the other day at Camp, they fell asleep leaning on each others heads, they looked so adorable." He teased, ending the latter in a voice you'd talk to a baby in. Paul laughed heartily, earning him a punch to his thigh from his brother.

"what about you then Arc? Have you got a special someone?" Paul questioned innocently, winking at Percy, unaware of the relatively touchy subject. That caught him off guard, he technically did, but couldn't really act on those feelings very much.

"There was this one girl I met last Winter, but she unfortunately had to move away. I still get to see her every so often when she's in town, but it's not often." He lied, well a little anyway.

"Oh, thats sad to hear." He frowned in concern, his mum eyeing him suspiciously.

A few hours later, it was well past evening, the sky now a blackish blue hue a glow from the moon and stars twinkling above. Percy looked tired as he sat on the sofa, his feet underneath him as he talked with Paul. He looked down at his watch noticing the lateness, he needed to leave but was unsure on how to bring it up.

"I think I'm going to head out. I need to get back to my place." He lied, noticing that it was nearing ten o'clock. They all stood, looking at the boy in shock.

"You're not staying?" Sally wondered, sounding disheartened. This again caught him off guard unsure on how to act.

"Well, it's just I don't want to feel like I'm intruding, I mean yes I'm your son, but I feel like it would be a little bit awkward if we just jumped into everything like I lived here from the start." He explained gently, not wanting to hurt his mums feelings.

"You're not intruding, Arc. We'd love to have you stay with us." Paul tried to reason. He looked torn between them, looking to his brother for help.

"I don't live that far from here. Just on the outskirts of New York." He lied. "I can commute, I'm not too fussed. I feel like Percy would get sick of me after a while anyway, its bad enough he has to deal with my snoring in his cabin at Camp let alone his room." He smiled, still trying to worm his way out, lightening the subject a little in the process. She sighed in understanding, nodding to him as she wrapped her arms around him, and looked up slightly at him. "If you'll have me, I can come by tomorrow." He smiled. She pecked his cheek smiling as she pulled out of the hug.

"Of course. See you tomorrow." She smiled, a watery smile. Paul shook his hand once more, and Arc pulled his brother into a hug.

"Make sure she's alright when I leave. I need to go house hunting in the morning." He whispered into his brother's ear.

"Will do, take care of yourself." He grinned. He said his goodbyes once more, making his way to the front door, everyone in tow as he made his way out, waving at them as he walked down the stairs. He Mist Travelled to the bottom, quickly hopping into his car, back to being a Mustang, and drove out of the car park, driving down the road a little way, before turning into another car park and Mist Travelling to Camp, stepping out of his car and pressing the logo. He stepped into the cabin, looking around at the quiet room, before climbing into bed and lying awake in bed for a time. Everything had changed in his life and he wasn't sure on how it was all going to end. He was scared.

He was scared and alone.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Happy Holiday Times

House hunting for a place on the outskirts of New York was a pain. He had no idea what he wanted, just a relatively nice place to stay at while not at Camp for the three other seasons. He was looked down upon by Estate Agents, nearly everyone kicking him out, not believing his intent one bit. He tried one more in the early afternoon, finally finding one that believed him after he explained everything to them. He purchased the first place they visited which was a lot lower than his budget, a little Bungalow that had been modernised, a beautiful house for renting out if one desired but an amazing looking place to live in.

The place had been renovated to accomodate more room in the attic and a basement that could house another bedroom or a laundry room. He was fortunate enough to have a driveway and a decently sized garage with it big enough for a car and a wood workshop if desired. The place was situated just on the outskirts of New York in a quiet Cul-de-sac, for which he was thankful of as it meant he wasn't going to be disturbed very often as the people that lived around him were either retired or nearing retirement. Although the house was for him, it technically wasn't at the same time. Once all of this was over, he planned on giving it to Paul and his mum to live in. He imagined that Paul was going to find out sooner or later about the Mythical world around him and hoped he stuck around, he was rather starting to like him. He couldn't move in until the middle of October, having to commute with the help of The Mist to and from Camp, visiting his mother nearly everyday up until it was school time.

School was an awkward topic of conversation for them, what with Paul being Percy's teacher and what not. He had to lie once more telling them that he went to school back in England. With his house on hold for a couple of months, and his mum and brother thinking he was in England for a couple of months, he was bored. He nearly contemplated actually going to school one particular day just staring up at the night sky, lying in the back of his car in pickup form. This was his life for a while, going to race meetings when they were on, racing in some or just watching others, talking with his brother after school and walking home with him, briefly meeting his mum and having a chat before having to leave when Paul arrived home. He sometimes made his way to camp to see Annabeth, talk with her and catch up on events; bringing Percy along sometimes too.

He was bored.

He hadn't gone to his Camp in a while, found it pointless seen as it was now abandoned after the massacre that occurred there. He just chose to drive around the country, doing a bit of sightseeing. There was only so much sightseeing he could take, day after day, the pattern getting repetitive and boring. He just wanted to stay in New York indefinitely, constantly Mist Travelling around was draining him of energy daily. He just wanted to settle down and stop moving so much.

**_October_****_ -_**

He got bored of waiting around, he'd finally moved into his house mid October, buying furniture to fill the empty space making his home look nice and cozy. During his time of doing nothing when he should have been at school, he'd decided to at least take up cooking lessons, attending different ones daily to fill some time. He had near on mastered cooking, deciding to invite Paul and his brother and mum around for dinner the night before Halloween, who were happy to see him.

"Hey, come on in. Welcome to my place." He smiled, ushering them in. They looked around in amazement, at the quiet little home he lived in. He heard a long intake of breath from everyone, looking into the direction of the kitchen.

"Hello Arc." His mother smiled, bringing him into a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Something smells nice." He smiled as he lead the way after they hung up their coats onto the coatrack behind the door.

"How did you afford this place? Poseidon helped I take it?" Percy wondered. He looked around walking them into his living room, the heveanly scent of a roast dinner drifting in from the kitchen.

"No. It's mainly from my payment from racing, I felt like buying the place after coming here last Winter, finding it a nice place to stay while I'm over here." He explained. "Would you like something to drink?" He wondered as he gestured to the sofa in front of him.

"Well I hope you don't have any wine?" His mum wondered. His face turned sheepish, his lips pulling down to the side, expression turning guilty.

"Well, when I moved in a neighbour came around and gave me a bottle thinking I was a lot older than I am." He grinned. "And no I haven't opened it." He smiled, making his way into the kitchen, bringing out the bottle and two glasses, a can and a bottle in his pockets. "You can take it home with you as well, bit pointless me keeping it." He sighed, sitting down and handing Percy a can of Cherry Coke.

"How has school been in England?" Paul wondered, sipping on the wine. He glanced to his brother briefly, knowing where this was going to lead.

"Schools going fine I suppose, passed a couple practice exams in Maths and English before I start my GCSE's for real." He lied, sipping on the water. He heard the egg timer ring in the kitchen, as he looked down to his watch. "Two seconds, I'm just going to quickly check on dinner." He smiled, standing and making his way to the kitchen. He pulled out the tray with a towel around his hand, looking over the chicken from inside the oven, checking on the potatoes and roasted vegetables. He quickly checked on the pecan pie that was cooking along with it, the pie a rich golden brown accompanied with a delicious scent.

"Dinner's ready." He called, placing everything on plates before letting the pie cool on the counter behind. "Come on through." He set the table, decorative dinner plates on place mats, placing the cutlery beside them. Percy's eyes lit up at the feast in front of them sitting beside his brother opposite his mum and Paul.

"This looks and smells amazing. I'm impressed." Sally commented, lifting her wine glass to her lips, sipping some before taking a bite of the food.

"Where'd you learn to cook?" Paul smiled in wonder, humming in satisfaction at the cacophony of flavours from the chicken and seasoned vegetables helping bring out their flavour. Arc grinned, eyeing them all as they enjoyed every bite of the food. He swallowed the piece of tender chicken mixed with roasted vegetables before answering.

"Food tech class, probably one of my favourite subjects to learn." He half lied, grinning at them. They made light dinner conversation for the rest of the meal, commenting on certain aspects of their daily lives as if they were a family, which they were, something he'd never properly felt. He enjoyed the feeling. They sat after the meal, stomachs bursting staring at the Pie on the counter behind them.

"I think we'll give dessert a miss for now, I'm so full." Percy groaned. "Think I'll have to come visit more often when you're in town, if you're cooking."

He grinned at the compliment, standing from the table, gathering the plates to load them into the dishwasher; scraping the scraps into the bin before hand. He reached into the top cabinet above the dishwasher once everything was placed inside, turning it on; the gentle quiet hum of the machine in the background as it washed the plates and cutlery. He pulled out a packet of after dinner mints popping a couple into his mouth before offering them to the others.

The rest of the evening went by rather quickly as they sat around back in the comfort of the living room, the warm heat from the radiators a welcoming source in the surprisingly chilly Autumn night. As they sat around catching up on events while he was 'away' in England, the hours ticked by finally getting to eat the now cool Pecan Pie with some left over for tomorrow for both parties.

He stood at the front door, after shaking Paul's hand as a goodbye and hugging Percy, he found himself with his arms wrapped around his mother a kiss on the cheek from both of them as he handed them the spare key to his house.

"You're welcome back anytime. Well if I'm here anyway." He smiled, looking down slightly at his mother. "I can come by tomorrow afternoon if you'd like." He commented, looking down at his watch to see the date.

"You can come around if you'd like, yes." Sally smiled up at her son's stood beside one another before stepping out of the front door, waving as she walked over to the car. The feeling of loneliness setting in once they'd left, closing the door and locking it when he watched the car reverse off the driveway and pulled off down the road, watching as Paul turned the corner. He looked around, sighing at his now quiet empty house switching off the hall light and made his way over to the TV as he switched it on. He flicked through the channels before finding nothing worth watching; switching it off, along with the living room light before heading into the kitchen. He placed the leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow, wiping down each surface before heading for his room, turning off the kitchen light, thankful their was another in the kitchen. He quickly showered, turning off the bathroom light as he came out before climbing into bed and laying down to sleep.

_**December -**_

While he was supposed to be back in England after Halloween, he'd just decided to spend his time with Annabeth at camp for a couple of months, Annabeth carrying on her teaching duties for him; the lessons getting more difficult. He didn't mind all too much that the lessons got harder, he welcomed the challenge taking satisfaction out of the fact he'd surprised her on more than one occasion on getting a lot of the things right the first time around.

He didn't have a problem with education, he took everything on board in his mind, soaking it all in like a child of Athena would, he just wasn't as passionate about it as a child of Athena. He enjoyed spending time with Annabeth, they'd formed a bond between each other, almost like brother and sister. He didn't mind in the slightest. One particular day Camp decided to let off some steam. The Boundry allowed snow to fall inside its perimeter, the few campers there during the winter revelling in the change of weather.

A snowball fight broke out between the camp, a little like it would with Capture The Flag, the campers seperated in half. Athena and Ares captaining their half VS Apollo, Hephaestus and himself captaining the rest. There was no real winner with this form of sport however, no out system just an old fashioned snowball fight, everyone revelling in the change of pace. He almost missed the frantic tone of voice coming from his mind. Thalia. A flash of worry came over his face as he dropped the snow he was ready to launch at Annabeth, getting the drop on her at last, talking frantically back in his mind.

"Thalia? You alright? Whats wrong?" He wondered as he zipped to his cabin, picking up his belongings, sliding his rings onto his fingers and shoving his keys into his pocket.

"Hurry. I need help in Central Park, I'm alone, hurry please." The rational side of his brain flew out the window, his mind not making its way to the possibility of it being a trap. He rushed out of his cabin passed the campers around staring and murmuring, ignoring the concerned glance Annabeth shot his way. His mind was too lost on possibilities to travel using the Mist, grunting in frustration as he chucked the keyring to the floor, the form of his Rallycross car taking its place, shimmering to a Winter Rally scheme. He needed something quick and grippy in these icey conditions.

It took him longer than he'd liked to reach his destination, trying the whole journey to reach Thalia again; unable to each time causing him to fear the worst. He pulled up and hour and a half later, glancing at the digital clock displayed on his dash. **December Twentieth**. He flung the car door open, jumping out into the biting cold weather, wrapping his jacket around him tighter; not wanting to do it up in case it restricted his fighting. He slammed the door shut, locking the door with the FOB, his left ring morphing to Terry's spear; retracted down in sword form. He searched the park for a while, thankful no one was out in the cold weather to see a teenager running around frantically; a weapon brandished in hand.

He scanned the park using the Mist, unable to detect whatever the threat was that Thalia needed help dealing with, before he felt a slip in the Mist, movement from behind. He turned, ring switching rapidly from the sword to a silenced M9 beretta; Artemis Golden Deer bounding passed him. He stared in confusion before he heard rustling once more from the bushes from whence it came, an arrow notched and pointed at his head.

"Arc?" Thalia wondered, eyes wide in shock. She lowered the bow as his posture relaxed slightly at the sight of her, standing and wrapping her in his arms. He squeezed her tightly, enjoying the feel of her arms around him. "What are you doing here?" She wondered, looking up at him; her electric blue eyes swirling like an electrical storm in the night sky.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said skeptically, pulling away. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" He asked, scanning over her attire for any cuts or bruises.

"No, why would I be?" She wondered, looking up at him. "What happened to your face?" She gasped, running her soft dainty fingers down the scar on his cheek that had slipped out through the Mist.

"A present from a Laistrygonian, he got a lucky hit in just as I left Daedalus' Workshop during the summer." She frowned in concern at him, shaking her head slightly as the little light from above shimmered in her eyes. "It was quite the ordeal in the end, finding out a lot of things. Like Nico for instance?" She nodded her head as they stood under the shade of an Elm from the snow that had started drifting to the ground. "Well he came along too for the remainder of the quest, and he's a son of Hades." He explained, looking up at the sky as the snow started drifting down a little heavier. She gaped up at him as the snow fell around them, not a concern on the world.

"You're joking." Her mouth hung open, staring up at him. He shook his head, eyes still scanning over her before her train of thought went back to his original question. "Why would I be hurt?" She wondered staring up at him, a questioning worried stare in her eyes, glancing over his shoulder at the Deer that just stood there munching on a patch of grass under the tree that hadn't frozen over.

"You asked me for help." He explained, eyes scrunching into a frown. "I came as soon as I got the message." He explained. She shook her head, holding his face in her hand, turning it to the side still examining the scar.

An icey breze rolled through, sending a chill down their backs a shiver running down them. She pushed towards him a little more for warmth, their breaths forminng into one, his arms automatically wrapping around her. She looked up at him tentatively, eyes shimmering as she bit her lower lip, finding it hard to fight against the invisible restraint around her. She stood on her tiptoes slightly, leaning up feeling their breaths mingle as the warm air washed over each other, inches a part.

They quickly moved a part from one another as they heard shouting from the entrance way nearby, spotting a mass of fur coming from that direction. Thalia gasped in shock as she witnessed a Hell hound hurtling towards them, black as night; easy to spot on the sheet of white she was running on. Thalia's eyes widened in fear as she readied her bow, notching an arrow within an instant, stepping forward to get a better draw on her bow. He outstretched his hand, lowering her arm as she stared incredulously up at him.

"She's friendly." He explained, as Mrs O'Leary bounded over to him, barreling into him and knocking him to the floor, the cold wet snow on his back as his shirt had ridden up. He gasped in shock before he was assaulted with a barrage of affectionate licks to his face, laughing at the huge dog overshadowing him.

"Easy girl, Easy." He laughed as he pushed her off of him, standing to his feet with the help of Thalia. Mrs O'Leary eyed her interestingly, head flicked to one side as she examined the two. "What are you doing here girl? You're supposed to be with Percy." He cooed to the dog in a tone you'd talk to a child, affectionately scratching behind her ear. She wimpered slightly, nuzzling into his hand as the boy in question came sprinting around the corner at that very moment, shouting out for his dog.

"Over here!" Thalia yelled, her hand up to the hounds nose as she nuzzled into her, licking her affectionately. She laughed lightly as the tongue tickled the palm of her hand, all three watching as Percy nearly slipped on a patch of ice as he sprinted over to them.

"What are you both doing here?" He wheezed, bending over to catch his breath. Thalia and Arc glanced at each other, amusement shimmering in their eyes as they eyed his brother.

"Been for a run have we?" He teased. Percy stood, rolling his eyes as they watched the Hell hound stalk its way over to the Deer, both of them sniffing each other before starting to play, much to the shocked and amazed expressions on the Demigod's faces.

"Yeah. She somehow managed to get out of the house and come to my school, interupting an exam I was lucky to have finished." He sighed. A yelp was heard from behind them, all three turning to look at the commotion in the clearing in front of them, weapons out as they scanned their surroundings. They stepped forwards more towards the center, looking down the crest that rolled down to a path below. He looked at the base of a Black Cherry tree, seeing and hearing a certain Demigods dressed all in black groaning and rolling on the floor, cursing as he did.

"Nico?" Arc called in bafllement. He rolled to his feet, rubbing his side as he glanced up to the three at the top of the crest, making his way over to them an annoyed expression etched on his face.

"Why'd you bring me here for? I was in a cemetery in New Orleans." He grumbled as he stood infront of them, all three looking as confused as he.

"We didn't bring you here." Percy explained, shaking his head in perplexity. Arc looked between the three of them, over his shoulder at the Hell hound and Deer before the gears started to turn in his head, every domino piece falling into place. The M9 Beretta shimmered from his ring once more, eyes scanning his surroundings.

"Back to back." He ordered, no one questioning the sudden authority. "The most powerful Demigods in existence all meeting at once in Central Park, is not a coincidence." He continued, feeling two shoulders pressed into his back from Thalia and Nico, all understanding his meaning. There was no Coincidence for a Demigod.

Just Fate.

Everyone scanned their own direction, waiting for an attack or a sound. Something. The ground rumbled beneath their feet, something none of them were expecting, as white ground became black walls, falling into an abyss. As quickly as it opened, the hole above quickly closed shut, clumps of snow that were beneath their feet now showered their faces as it rained on them from above, screaming as they fell, each one with their eyes shut tight, fearing this was the end.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - The Underworld

They continued to scream as they fell, eyes still shut tight feeling hot air whip around their faces; fearing Kronos had opened a pit straight to Tartarus. It felt like they were falling forever, a sense of dread filling him on the horrors that awaited them. He dared to take a peek, opening his eye as he looked around him, noticing they were stood on a small grassy plateau, his arm wrapped around Thalia. His face reddened as realisation set in, wondering how long they'd just been stood there.

"Yeah, we're not falling anymore." He sighed, pulling out of the hug he had on Thalia. They all looked around at their surroundings, baffled on where they stood.

"Where are we?" Thalia wondered, clearing her throat as she looked away from him, embarrassment written on her features. Nico sighed, shaking his head looking around at his Father's domain.

"The underworld, this is my Step Mothers garden. Don't take anything from here especially the food." He warned, looking directly at Percy who was moments away from picking up a sandwich on a spread in front of him.

"Why not?" He shook his head, confused about the situation they're all in.

"One bite of Underworld food and you will never leave." He said ominously, looking to each of them in a warning. He heard Thalia's Bow draw as she notched an arrow pointing it at the ground, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Heads up." She whispered, glancing at them briefly before returning to the woman in white, stood in front of them. Her dress shimmered different colours other than just white, but each colour; once colourful was faded from years of being in the Underworld. She stared at the Demigod's before her, eyes examining each one of them, lingering on Nico; a twitch to her eye as she sneered at him.

"I am Persephone. Welcome Demigods." She smiled a withered smile, one that used to be more beautiful but years of being here had caused it to dwindle, her voice thin and papery. Nico barked a laugh, stepping forward to the goddess before him, a sour expression etching onto his face.

"Welcome? After the last time, you have some nerve to welcome me." He grumbled. They all stared at him, shock and fear on their faces waiting for the moment he was struck down, but it never came.

"Uh, Nico. Maybe you shouldn't." Percy began. Persephone held up a hand, her smile growing as she looked down at her Husband's spawn.

"It's quite alright, Percy. Last he was here, we had a family spat is all." She smiled innocently down at him.

"Is that what you call it!" He laughed, glancing around at his surroundings. "From what I recall you turned me into a Dandelion." He cried, exasperated. She rolled her eyes, ignoring her stepson as she continued, now addressing the other three and Nico indirectly.

"As I was saying, welcome to my garden." She smiled once more. He watched as Thalia shouldered her bow, slinging it over her head, the arrow sliding back into her quiver.

"You sent me after the Deer didn't you." She wondered, staring up at the goddess before them.

"Yes." She smiled, staring at each of them warmly, besides Nico still getting the cold shoulder. "And Percy, I sent the hound. Nico his. Shadow Travel, as he calls it." She shook her head as if he was an idiot. Nico growled up at the goddess, Percy putting a restraining hand on his shoulder causing him to tense and back off.

"What about me?" Arc wondered, staring at the goddess in confusion. "Thalia called me to Central Park." He wondered, eyes scrunching in scrutiny up at the goddess. She hummed in thought briefly, waving her hand as she turned, ushering them to follow.

"Hm. Oh yes. I mimicked her voice in your head." She waved off as if it was nothing. "Follow me, Demigods." She smiled, as they all made their way into the giant obsidian house she called Home. They sat around a table overlooking the Garden, his mind working on autopilot as he sat beside Thalia. She frowned down at the Demigods beginning to tell the predicament she was in.

"Hades has forged a new weapon of power." She began, much to the stunned faces of them all. "There were complications with the forging and had to be put on hold momentarily and now it has gone. A few hours ago, it was stolen by an Agent of Kronos. I cannot go to get it back directly as it would be interfering with events and so I need you all to help me retrieve it." They all nodded in understanding, thinking on the matter at hand. "The other problem is that Hades doesn't know it has been stolen. Which is why it is of utmost importance you get it back." She finished as she stared at them individually.

"Wait. Is that what I think it is." Nico sat stunned, looking at the images of the Sword as it was being forged. Persephone's hate towards her stepson dissipated momentarily during these trying moments, nodding her head.

"Yes. The keys of Hades. Now you understand why it needs to be back in his hands. If this falls into his hands it has the power to release every creature in The Underworld and Tartarus combined, to the world above. The events would be world ending."

"Why don't you just have guards setup on all exits to stop whoever it is that has it from leaving?" Nico wondered, staring down at the images.

"I have done, but I couldn't get them all in time, there is a path that he has turned to by the Lethe, if he gets out with that weapon, it is game over for everyone." They all sat in silence as contemplated the matter at hand. He could sense through the little power on The Mist he held in the Underworld, that the person with the sword was currently marching towards the secret exit, hiding from patrolling undead as he went. His mind was already made up, so was Nico's.

"I'm sorry to disappoint but. I'm not helping the Lord Of the Dead if he is fashioning a new Symbol of Power." Thalia sighed, a matter of factly.

"Me either. Same for Nico and Arc?" Percy nodded, looking at the two. Arc looked at his brother and Thalia with an incredulous gaze.

"You were hearing the same story as me, right? The part about Kronos winning if he gets his hand on that weapon. Me and Nico are helping, with or without you." He stated, looking to Nico as he nodded.

"If it means I can win over my father's favour a little more, I have to do it." Nico stated, looking between the two Demigods in disagreement with him. Persephone looked to the two that were still torn on whether or not they should help out.

"I imagine he will reward you for this quest, if not I will." Thalia and Percy hesitated, sighing as they watched Arc and Nico stand, ready to head out.

"Well by the sounds of things we don't have a choice Seaweed Brain, if we don't go, we don't go home." Thalia grumbled. Percy let loose a long sigh looking to his brother shaking his head.

"True. Where do we start?" He looked over the balcony into the vast nothingness around them.

"Which way is the Lethe?" He wondered looking around at the wasteland of called The Underworld.

"Down that hill at the bottom, the water runs just near the edge of The Underworld, near the exit." Nico informed him, pointing to his right. His ring shimmered to his M16 DMR, using the fifteen times scope on top to scout out there route.

"Well, I can see the undead patrolling around near that area, but I don't see any sight of whoever has the weapon. I can just feel him through the Mist on occasion." He mumbled, staring down to the river. They made their way out of the house, wary of the guards that stood around watching them, expressionless faces adding to the creep factor. After what seemed like hours of walking, making their way past patrols that ignored their presence, sensing the son of Hades besides them, they came across the infiltrator that stole the weapon. It was slung over his shoulder as he began the long climb up the rockface ahead that lead up to the exit out of the Underworld.

"Ethan?" Percy yelled in a loud harsh grumble. He stopped to look, his eyes widening in shock at being caught. He was wearing an eye patch and tattered clothing from when he last encountered Percy. He remembered the Demigod well.

He was the one up on Mt Tam, presenting Luke/Kronos with his weapon Backbiter, pledging his allegiance to Kronos. Beside him stood a ten-foot-tall man with silver eyes and hair, growling down to the Demigods in front of him. A titan.

"Iapetus. A titan." Arc whispered to his friends. "This is bad. I wasn't expecting a Titan with him, I couldn't sense him." He continued, staring up at the turncoat Demigod.

"Iapetus. Deal with them while I get this to Kronos." Ethan ordered, tightening the sling over his shoulder. Iapetus grinned, snarling like a dog before brandishing his spear, ready to strike.

He looked around at his friends, unsure whether his projectile weapons would be of any use, deciding to go after Ethan.

"You three deal with the Titan, I'll get the sword from Ethan." Arc ordered, not meaning to take authority in this instance. He shrouded himself in the Mist, making himself lost to the Titan's gaze, as he started up the cliff behind Ethan, hearing the crashing of metal from below. He glanced up at Ethan, who grinned down at the commotion, completely unaware of the Demigod following behind him. He needed to hurry, Ethan was nearly at the top. He pushed through the pain, thankful for the Climbing Wall back at camp, using the techniques he'd learned and putting them to good effect.

He pulled himself up, breaking out into a sprint after Ethan, who was moments away from achieving his goal. He tackled him to the ground, the sword clattering to the floor behind them as they grappled each other, fists flying. Ethan kicked his jaw with the heel of his boot, using the momentary lapse in concentration to grasp for the sword, swinging it around and pointing it at him.

He held his hands up at sword point, Ethan grinning evilly towards him. "I win." He smiled, his attire making him fit the part of a Villain. Arc's lips formed into a smile, Ethan feeling uncomfortable at the smirk on his face. "What." He demanded. Arc shook his head, looking down to the floor.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what you were planning on fighting me with, considering you're just holding a snake." He smiled innocently. A violent hiss from Ethan's hands, a venomous strike in his direction made him drop the weapon, throwing it into his direction. He grinned once more, picking up the sword and nodded. "Cheers mate." He winked, jumping off the cliff to his friends below.

He took a risk with Mist Travelling. With The Mist not working properly down in the Underworld, he was unsure whether it would work, but was thankful it did when he stood beside Thalia. They stood watching the fight between Percy an Iapetus, fighting on a makeshift bridge over the River Lethe.

This is not going to end well, he thought as he watched his brother douse the Titan with water from the Lethe. The fighting stopped, Percy stood over the Titan, sword at his throat as his friends joined him. The Titan's lower lip wobbled, tears shimmering in his silver eyes.

"Wh-where am I? Who are you?" He questioned. "Who am I?" He asked tentatively. Percy helped the Titan stand, a comforting smile overtaking his once serious expression.

"We're you're friends." He smiled. "Your name is Bob. Come on, let's get you back to the House." Percy stated calmly. The trio stood in stunned silence at Percy, amazed and baffled on what they just witnessed. They took the newly named Titan, Bob, back to the Obsidian Palace, much to the confusion of the goddess inside.

The goddess in question thanked the four of them, begrudgingly to Nico, for their work. "I may have told a little fib, about this sword." She started. "Hades doesn't know about its existence." The Demigods stood, mouths agape whilst the Titan stood around in the Garden looking around at the only place in the Underworld that had a bit of colour. Nico looked at Arc and waved his hand, the three of them blending into the shadows and appearing on the surface above, the sweet smell of the air a welcoming scent than sulphur and death. He understood why Nico opted to stay behind. He was ready to have some choice words with his Step Mother and inform Hades of the happenings of the day.

They appeared on the surface around six in the evening, the sky a dark sheet of grey. Snow still drifted down to the ground, floating gracefully through the air. They shivered as they made their way over to Arc's car, seeing it parked on the side of the road, hidden in the Mist back to being a road-legal version of his Rallycross car.

"Hey, do you all fancy staying around mine for Christmas? Bringing mum and Paul too? It gets a little lonely over there." He sighed, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Maybe get Annabeth around as well." He finished as they made it over to the car. Percy climbed into the back, closing the door behind him before answering, watching Thalia climb into the front.

"Yeah can do, I'll mention it to her when I get in. Where are you going to go?" He looked at his brother in the review mirror, starting the car and peeling away carefully on the gritted roads.

"If they want to come, I'll stay at Camp with Thalia seen as that's what I've been doing since Halloween out of boredom." He stated, looking at Thalia as he stopped at a traffic light. She hummed in thought and nodded.

"Yeah sure, it'll be fun. Since when do you have a place?" She wondered, eyeing him suspiciously. He carried on driving once it turned green, indicating right and started the short drive back to Percy's.

"Bought it the beginning of August, as a place to stay at when I'm not at Camp. I don't really tend to go back to the one in London after what happened, haven't been there for a few months." He said sadly, pulling up outside Percy's apartment complex.

"Well, thank you for the ride home, and the eventful day. I'll see you at Christmas. I doubt mum will say no. Later Arc." He smiled, stepping out of the car, closing the door behind him.

"See ya, Perce." Thalia and Arc said simultaneously. "To camp." He smiled, Mist Travelling to the base of Thalia's Tree. "If you're alright with it, I'm only staying here a couple of days before the twenty-fifth so I can get everything I need for Christmas Dinner." He explained. She hummed in affirmation in response, eyes alight with glee.

"It should be fun, my first proper Christmas. We didn't do anything with the Hunters last year, for obvious reasons." She stated, eyes downcast in sadness. He frowned at her as they stepped out, making his way around to the back pressing the Trident.

"Well at least this time it'll be enjoyable, plus you get to taste my cooking." He grinned excitedly. She groaned as they made their way past the Dragon guarding the fleece as always.

"Don't. I might have to bring some food with me." She sighed.

"Ouch. My cooking is amazing, thank you very much." He stated, frowning down at the Hunter. "I cooked on Halloween for Percy, mum, and Paul. They enjoyed it, I know what I'm doing." Her eyes widened in response, unaware and baffled by his newfound passion in cooking.

"Oh, I thought you were making a point that your cooking was awful." She mused as they were moments away from the Arena where the small campfire was held. "Sorry." She grinned sheepishly. He laughed, shaking his head as they walked into the Arena, Annabeth grinning wide as she saw her old friend.

"Thalia." She grinned excitedly, launching from her seat, wrapping her arms around her.

"Hey, Annabeth." She grinned, letting go of the hug. He perched himself on his usual spot in the Winter, watching the interaction in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Chiron wondered, smiling all the same, happy to see an old camper.

"We've just had a little adventure." Arc grinned, shaking his head, pulling at a loose bit of sole on his shoe. They both took turns in discussing the quest they were just assigned and completed in a day, a cold feeling washing over them as the near cataclysmic event that nearly occurred hung over them.

"It's a good thing you dealt with the situation quickly." Chiron muttered, concern on in his tone and eyes. Thalia hummed and nodded, sitting beside him on the stone benches. Chiron sighed as he disbanded the campfire, sending all the campers off to their Cabins leaving Thalia, Annabeth and Arc to walk on their own.

"So Annabeth, I was wondering whether you wanted to come around for Christmas Dinner, Thalia is coming and so is Percy, Paul and mum." he said walking to his cabin.

"Yeah, sounds like fun. I need to go Christmas shopping in that case." She smiled, walking slowly beside them.

"Yeah that's fine, I was planning on cooking dinner for everyone, so I need to go tomorrow, pack some clothes and we'll leave after breakfast." He smiled. She nodded once more, humming in affirmation, before hugging Thalia once more.

"Sounds good, Goodnight." She smiled, stepping into her cabin, closing the door behind her. They both continued walking to Thalia's cabin in comfortable silence. She smiled up at him when they made it to the cabin, looking to the ground as she kicked the dirt path in front.

"I'll see you in the morning, thank you for the ride here." She smiled, he nodded smiling down at her.

"No problem, anytime. If you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask." He smiled. "G'night." He said, taking a tentative step forward. He kissed her forehead, a beaming smile up at him in return.

"Night." She smiled, stepping into her cabin. He returned to his cabin, closing the door behind him looking around at the empty cabin. He climbed into bed after he'd showered, cleaning himself of all the dirt and grime from the day, before climbing into bed.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - Christmas Shopping

He was awoken by the sound of the conch horn, looking to his watch over the arm of the metal support beam on the bunk. He picked it up, wrapping it around his wrist as he clambered out of bed, rubbing his eyes of sleep, making his way to the bathroom. He showered, got dressed and gathered his things together before the long journey to New York.

He quickly patted his pocket to make sure he had his keys and wallet before leaving his cabin, just as the second conch sounded, making his way to the Dining Hall. He plopped himself down at his table, his goblet filling with coffee for the early morning start. He drained it instantly, watching Annabeth and Thalia come in, sitting at their respective tables as the platter of food was placed in front of him. He smiled kindly to the Nymph, standing as he made his way to the Brazier to offer the best cuts as usual to his father.

He sat once more, beginning to pick at the breakfast croissant he enjoyed every morning, with a side of fruit. He sat going over the day's events in his head, what he needed to get for everyone and the dinner on Christmas Day. He needed to buy presents for everyone; a chicken he hoped he could get on such short notice, he needed to get the fresh vegetables for roasting...

He was lost in thought, he didn't even realise breakfast was over. He shook his head coming out of his reverie and looked up.

"About time. What're you thinking about?" Thalia teased. He smiled, shaking his head as he stood, making his way back to his cabin, Annabeth and Thalia in tow.

"What I needed to get, which is a lot. Are you both ready to go? And where's Grover?" He wondered, looking over his shoulder at the two. They hummed, nodding in response as they watched the keyring thrown to the floor, morphing into a sky blue Mustang.

"He's off spreading the word of Pan, which is a shame because he would've loved this." She sighed, walking past him. "I'm just quickly going to run and get my stuff." She smiled, sprinting excitedly over to the Athena cabin. He opened his boot ready for her to throw her stuff in the back, the driver door open and seat down for her to jump in.

"Why did I need a bag of clothes?" She wondered, throwing the bag in the back and stepping over to the door. He slammed the boot shut, watching her climb in before putting the seat back and stepping into the driver's seat, the engine grumbling to life.

"You're staying at mine for a couple of days if you want to anyway, I imagine Percy and mum and Paul will stay for a couple of days afterwards too." He replied, looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"You have your own house?" She queried, looking stunned. He hummed, turning off down the dirt path, looking both ways before he headed off.

"How much have you both got, out of curiosity." He wondered, sitting on a hidden trail.

"About two hundred." Annabeth answered, looking through her purse. He hummed, looking over to Thalia beside him, looking through her pouch on her hip.

"Two fifty." She answered, staring up at him in question. He pulled out his wallet, thumbing through the different currency inside, pulling out a few pound notes. He handed them over to the girls, staring at him in even further questioning stares as he smiled, handing them four hundred each.

"Might as well do our shopping in England." He grinned, appearing down the road of Lakeside Shopping Centre. The sound of rain showered the roof of the car in an instant, typical he thought. He sighed as he switched on the windscreen wipers, pulling onto the road leading down to the shopping Centre, watching Thalia and Annabeth, looking around outside.

He pulled up into the multistory car park, pulling the handbrake as he parked in a spot at the back of the third level, turning off the windscreen wipers before switching off the engine, removing the key and stepping out. He pulled the seat forward, looking around at the usual shopping centre he hadn't visited in a long time. He heard the door shut, looking back over and locked the car with the FOB before they stepped out into the typical British downpour, running for the entrance.

"We can go around here for a couple of hours, I need to pick up a few things from here then head over to the industrial side to Tesco to get the food for Christmas." He explained, watching the bustle of people rushing around doing last-minute Christmas shopping.

He smiled at their expressions, looking on in wonder around them. The place was decorated with Christmas decorations, massive streamers and baubles hanging all around, Santa's Grotto in the centre of the building.

"We should be fine in terms of the M-word, I've got us covered so it will be fine if you want to head off on your own, just don't go crazy." He grinned. He watched Annabeth wander off downstairs, spotting the bookshop below. He tutted, rolling his eyes not surprised in the slightest that she decided to visit there first.

He looked to Thalia who was looking into a jewellery shop, a sad expression on her face as she eyed a silver charm necklace inside, a collection of silver skulls formed into a circular ring, connecting to another with the words; Love, Faith, Hope something very out of place in the window mixed with the other jewellery.

"Are you going to wander around on your own or coming with me?" He wondered, standing beside her, pretending like he didn't see her eyeing the necklace, although the flush on his face made it pretty hard.

"I think I'm going to head around with Annabeth, keep an eye on her so she doesn't get herself in trouble." She sighed, looking below into the bookshop, seeing Annabeth sat with a stack of books at a table, coffee in hand. Boy, she works fast.

"No problem, I'll come and find you when I'm done." He smiled, watching her nod and walk off to the bookshop below. He sighed, looking at the necklace once more, before entering and making his way to the clerk at the front desk.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She wondered, smiling kindly. He smiled, hesitating before plucking up the courage.

"There's a necklace in the window, its got skulls in a ring and another attached to it with words written on the other one." He explained, walking with her over to the display room.

"This one?" She wondered after scanning over them all, looking at them upside down. He nodded, smiling as he made his way back over to the counter. "That will be Three Hundred and sixty pounds." She smiled, he hid the shock on his face as he held up his debit card. She nodded and smiled, placing the card reader on the counter.

He paid for the necklace, smiling and thanking the clerk as she placed it in the bag, thanking him and wishing him a good day. He looked around at the shopping centre, looking down at his small note pad from his inside jacket pocket. He quickly wrote down what he bought before he crossed off Thalia's name, looking down the list.

Thalia - Necklace X

Annabeth - Drawing/ Artist Tablet

Percy - anything blue

Paul - Laptop

Mum - Laptop

Chicken on Christmas Eve

Vegetables

Salt

Flour

Potatoes

Bacon

Milk

Sunflower Oil

Eggs

Olives

Chicken slices

Tomato sauce

Mozarella

Appetisers/ Evening food

He looked at the long list, realising this was going to be a very expensive shopping trip. He made his way over to the bank close by, quickly checking his balance before he made any more rash decisions. He was happy with the amount that was still in there, looking down at his watch after to see it was half-past two.

He made his way to the PC shop down the way a little, passing clothing stores and jewellery stores of varying prices before he found himself in the PC shop, looking through all of the different laptops of varying prices and uses. He looked around looking for Annabeth's drawing tablet too, finding one for her and taking the box with him, still searching for a perfect computer for Paul and his mum.

"Can I help you with anything?" An assistant wondered, stepping over to him. He looked at him briefly, doing a double-take. He looked just like Terry.

"Uh. I'm looking for two laptops, one for my... Stepdad? And one for my mum, he's a teacher and she's an aspiring writer." He explained stuttering and caught off guard. He hummed in thought for a moment before scanning the aisle with him.

"Well for a teacher I'd say the Macbook, but it's a little pricey. Maybe a DELL studio instead. It's the cheaper alternative, a little bit better and to be frank, I don't see Apple being that big of a deal in a few years." He smiled, looking down at him. Arc nodded, humming in thought as he plucked up the carry handle on the box underneath the display computer.

"As for a writer, I'd probably say the HP Probook, it comes with a disc loaded writing software that helps with everything, writing style, different words, more adult words kid-friendly words et cetera." He smiled. Arc nodded, once more taking the mans advice.

"Yeah I think I'll have that, can you grab it for me please and help me to the counter." He smiled. The Terry lookalike nodded, and smiled, picking up the box following him to the counter. He was getting quite a collection of bags now, he needed to put them in his car before he carried on. He walked to the nearest bathroom, finding an empty stall and locked the door. He Mist Travelled into the elevator leading up to the third floor, stepping out making it seem like he was there all along, placing everything in his car.

He crossed off the gifts once more, waiting to hear everyone was out of the toilet before exiting, the stall he appeared back in, the same he left in, looking over the last gift for Percy. Anything blue. He had no idea. He was his brother but he still didn't know much about him. Just that he liked blue.

He didn't want to spend a small fortune on his brother, buying anything and everything he might've liked that was blue. Clothes, sweets, random objects. He made his way to the girls, using the Mist to help find them. He found them in a clothes shop surprisingly, looking at Thalia with a new leather jacket in her hand.

"It's meant to be for other people, not you, you know." He teased as he stopped outside the dressing room, startling her. "Where's Annabeth?" He wondered, looking around.

"What? I liked it alright. In there at the moment, trying on some new clothes seen as she didn't bring enough for the few days at yours. And looking at clothes she thinks Sally would like." He nodded in understanding looking over at the Hunter beside him.

"I need help. I've got gifts for everyone but Percy. I have no idea what he likes or wants. All I've got is anything blue." He sighed, looking down at the floor in guilt. Thalia hummed in thought, looking around her for anything.

"Wait, nevermind, I've got it. But he'll have to wait another eight months for it. I'll have to double it up as a birthday present too." He sighed, thankful he's got something at least in mind. Thalia sighed, rolling her eyes waiting for Annabeth once more.

"Right, while you are still looking after Annabeth, I'm going to quickly go to the Industrial side and get the food for dinner. Give me a shout when you're finished and I'll come and get you." He explained. She hummed and nodded, smiling up at him before he made his way over to his car. A few minutes later he jumped in, the V8 grumbling to life as it echoed through the carpark, making his way to the Industrial side.

He'd bought everything he needed, still not getting the confirmation that they were finished shopping. He quickly stopped off at home, placing everything in his wardrobe along with the wrapping paper, before putting everything in the fridge, that needed to be and others in the cupboards. He made his way to Olympus briefly, stopping off at Hephaestus forge, asking nicely if he could use it before starting to tinker with a small device that was similar to his in his car.

The small device transformed into a dark blue keyring, the shape of a Subaru Impreza. He smiled down at his handy work, watching as the key and FOB appeared at the end of the keychain.

"Hephaestus can you help me with something quickly." He looked at the boy, nodding as he looked over what he'd just made. "So I didn't know what to get Percy for a gift, so I'm tying the two together and giving it to him on his birthday. Is there a way you can enchant this keyring to become the full car like mine does but only activates properly on the Eighteenth of August." He nodded, smiling down at him, waving his hand.

"It is done." He smiled, turning to continue his work. He thanked Hephaestus as he left, finally hearing the go-ahead from Thalia to come and collect them from the carpark. He and the car appeared once more, in its spot before, just next to Thalia and Annabeth who proceeded to chuck a lot of bags in the boot.

"Did you buy the entire stock of each shop in there or something?" He said in shock. They smiled, innocently at him, climbing into the car before he travelled back to America, appearing inside his garage.

"So what did you get Percy in the end then?" Thalia wondered as she climbed out of the passenger seat.

He grinned, holding up the car key with the keyring on the end.

"You didn't." She stated an unamused look on her face.

He grinned looking over at the two, placing the key back in its pouch for him to wrap up later.

"Well, I didn't know what to get him." He laughed, pulling some bags out from the boot. "Plus it's not like he can use it now, Hephaestus enchanted it to only work on our birthday when we turn sixteen. So it's a double present, at least I won't have to get him anything." He reasoned, pushing the door in front of him open with his foot.

"So you two are upstairs in the room on the left unless you want the room next door to mine, both are double singles." He wondered, looking over at them.

"Next to you, I don't think I can carry these upstairs." Annabeth puffed. He laughed, walking into the room next to his, placing the seven bags he had in his hands in front of the bed closest to him. He looked down at his watch, seeing it was four in the afternoon.

"Are you two hungry? I was going to start dinner." He wondered, walking out of the room, both of them looking around at the house around them. "If you need to use the toilet, there's one by the backdoor and one upstairs." He said, making his way to the kitchen.

"How did you get this place, it's rather quaint." Annabeth said in wonder, looking around her.

"Bought it with my Le Man payment, got a bit of a bonus with the class win." He explained, pulling out the eggs and flour from the fridge. "Feel free to look around, it's nothing overly special but its a place to sleep when I'm not at camp." He explained, pulling the stand mixer from the cupboard above the sink.

He watched them wandering around the house as he began making a dough, both returning when he was rolling it out on the granite countertop. He had a fresh tomato sauce boiling in a pot behind him, the aroma heavenly.

"What toppings do you want? I've got chicken, mushroom, olives, bacon. All of them?" He wondered as he sprinkled some flour on a pizza stone. They nodded in stunned silence, as he worked, ignoring their presence as if they weren't there, just getting lost in cooking. He started with a small layer of sauce then freshly grated mozzarella, more sauce and all the toppings with more sauce and more cheese before placing the pizza stone in the oven.

"About twenty minutes." He smiled. "Anything to drink?" He wondered. He pulled a couple of cans of Coke from the fridge, placing them in front of them before there was a knock on the door. He frowned slightly, peering around the corner looking to see who it was.

To his surprise it was Percy. He made his way over to the door, wiping his hand on a towel, before opening the door wide for him to come in. He wiped his feet on the doormat, hanging his coat on the hook behind before hugging him.

"What are you doing here?" He wondered, walking into the kitchen to where Thalia and Annabeth were.

"Decided to stay here with you for a couple of days until Christmas if that's alright?" Percy wondered. He smiled and nodded, pulling a can from the fridge, sliding it over the counter to him.

"Yeah that's fine, I've just put dinner in the oven, you're in luck." He smiled, looking through the glass door at the bubbling pizza. "We've not long come back from shopping ourselves." He explained, glancing back over to his brother. That reminded him he needed to stick Percy's present with the others.

"Two seconds, I just have to put something away." He explained, walking over to his room. He placed the key inside a bag with his mum's new laptop, hoping a certain someone didn't come snooping around.

"Well, this is us for a couple of days then, getting sick of the sight of each other." He laughed as he returned, cleaning up the mess he'd made from making a dough. He wiped down the surface while he listened to the idle chatter from the others, too engrossed in cleaning he was disgusted to think, checking on the pizza every so often.

Twenty minutes later, the pizza was cooked and they sat around the table, the pizza in the centre cut up into slices as they ate, laughing an chatting about past quests.

"I cannot believe you got turned into a guinea pig." He laughed at his brother. "That's just mad, what are the chances of coming across Circe." He mused, biting into his third slice.

"It wasn't fun I can tell you that." Percy grinned, shaking his head. "It was a little bit terrifying." He explained, looking up to Annabeth. "I was relieved when Annabeth realised what was happening. Although Blackbeard wasn't too happy we stole his boat." He smiled guiltily scratching his neck.

"I can imagine." Thalia smiled, looking between Annabeth and Percy. She glanced up at him, a small smile still on her face. "Thanks for dinner, and letting us stay here, I'm rather looking forward to Christmas." She smiled up at him. He smiled back as he stood, dusting his hands together over the plate before standing, collecting all of their plates.

"You're very welcome." He grinned, walking over to the dishwasher with all the dirty plates and pizza stone. He set them on for a long hot wash, looking back over at the others. "TV is celestial bronze if you want to use it, no tracing it." He said, nodding to it.

They sat around on the sofa, talking and watching films talking and laughing about anything and everything. It rolled over to midnight rather quickly, Percy heading upstairs to his room and the girls to theirs where he proceeded to wrap everyone's presents before climbing into bed and falling asleep, not realising how tired he was from the day gone by.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - It's Christmas

The days passed much like the first day. They talked, joked, ate decorated the house with decorations, finally putting up the tree he hadn't done as he was at camp until it was Christmas Eve. He quickly made his way back to England in the early hours of the morning luckily finding a chicken he could use for the next day. He prepared it when he got back, washing it before patting it down, placing it in a foil-lined baking tray. He placed some aromatics on top of the bird, a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme before he sprinkled the exterior with a light snowfall of salt to help draw out the moisture and give it a crispier skin. He quickly washed his hands before opening the door to the garage and the spare fridge door.

He walked carefully to the garage, placing it in for a day-long salt cure glancing at the clock when he re-entered the kitchen, seeing it was five in the morning. He washed down everything, his hands once more, the counters, the sink before he started cutting up a whole loaf of bread he'd bought while he was back in England. He was lost in getting everything prepped for tomorrow, he didn't hear Thalia come in from her room.

"Hey, what are you doing up so early?" She wondered, yawning and rubbing her eyes of sleep. He glanced over at her, as he finished cutting the bread for the stuffing.

"Just getting the things that needed to be prepped, ready for tomorrow." He smiled. "What do you want for breakfast?" He wondered, eyeing her. She hummed in thought as she sat at the dinner table, looking over at him.

"I'm not too fussed, I'll probably just have cereal if you're going to be cooking all morning tomorrow." She sighed.

"What's up? You seem a little down." He wondered, standing opposite her leaning on the other side of the counter. She sighed heavily as she looked up to him.

"I don't know. The past couple of days have been fun, I suppose it's just making me realise how much I've missed you all and being just me. Don't get me wrong I like being a Hunter, I just miss my old life." She explained, sighing. She shook her head glancing up at him.

"Well, there's nothing stopping you from leaving when all of this is over." He stated, crossing his arms in front of him. She nodded as she stood, crossing the short distance to him, wrapping her arms around him, leaning her head on his chest. He leaned his chin on the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her.

"I know there isn't." She sighed, mumbling with her cheek pressed to him. He pecked the top of her head sighing in the process as she pulled back, smiling sadly up at him. He stepped around the other side of the counter once more, pulling the waffle maker from the top shelf. He quickly prepared a batter, pulling out the fruit from the top shelf of the fridge.

He plated them up, placing the plate in front of Thalia with some blueberries and strawberries, with some syrup over the top. He heard a long intake of breath from the kitchen doorway, a blonde mess of hair stepping into the room, yawning.

"Sleep well?" He mused, watching as she mumbled, nodding her head. He poured a glass of orange juice, hearing the creaking of the wooden stairs as Percy came down them. Percy joined the three of them, smiling as he sat next to Annabeth.

"I've just realised. Do you have enough space for everyone around one table?" Percy mumbled sleepily, looking down at his waffles, cutting into one with a knife.

"Yeah. The table extends out into a longer one, and I've got four more chairs in the basement." He nodded, sitting next to Thalia as he took a sip of the orange juice before cutting into a waffle, picking up a strawberry on the end of his fork.

The day went by quickly, mainly on his part he was getting everything prepped he needed to for an early morning start before making a quick dinner of Mac and Cheese before he made his way to bed for the early morning start.

Christmas morning. He woke up from his alarm blearily looking around at the darkness around him. He quickly showered, the lukewarm water waking him almost instantly before he stepped out into the living room in fresh clothes, the presents in his hand. After he'd stuck them under the tree, he entered the garage, taking out the chicken from the spare fridge taking care as he walked past his car in rallycross form, back into the kitchen sliding the tray onto the counter.

He pulled the deep roasting pan out of the oven, quickly setting the oven to preheat, whilst he began peeling and chopping the bed of vegetables into relatively large chunks to go underneath the chicken. Once the onions, carrots, celery were in the bottom he placed some of the bread into the pan along with it, melting two sticks of butter on the backburner behind him, browning the pork in another quickly before he stuffed the bird with it. He patted down the bird, getting rid of all the salt on the outside, moving the bird onto another tray before washing his hands after getting rid of the other tray.

He finely chopped some more rosemary and thyme, getting some bacon fat out of the fridge which he combined with some soft butter, quickly turning to the back burner and turning the heat on very low just to keep it warm. He combined the chopped herbs with the butter and bacon fat, mixing them together creating a buttery herb mixture he patted under and on top of the skin.

Looking around for the mixing bowl, he drew one out of cupboard throwing the browned pork and some freshly chopped sage with onion into the bowl, mixing the stuffing together with the cubed bread to form a mass of balled meat. He quickly stuffed the bird with the stuffing, before he placed the bird inside the roasting pan, pouring the melted butter into the bottom.

He set the tray into the oven, for its long four-hour roast. He began cleaning everything down after washing his hands, washing down the counters, trays into the dishwasher and began making Yorkshire puddings from scratch. It didn't take him long, watching a video on how-to on the internet he was lucky to have. He set those in the oven to cook alongside the chicken half an hour later, looking up to the time to see it was seven in the morning.

He started chopping the potatoes into moderately sized chunks, setting them into two pans on the burner top, dropping them in with some salted water that just barely covered them, letting them boil vigorously in the water before dropping the heat and leaving them uncovered, setting a timer for two minutes.

He prepared the pan that was inside the second oven behind him, that was for the vegetables and potatoes, spreading some olive oil inside before setting it back in the oven turning his attention back to the water. He turned off the backburner, draining the potatoes in the sink with a strainer. He carried on working for another couple of hours, finally finishing the potatoes and vegetables setting them to roast in the oven as he took out the dessert from the freezer, setting the cheesecake on the windowsill above to defrost.

He saw the others getting up and walking into the living room, the heavenly scent from the kitchen wafting all over the house. He washed his hands, sitting beside Percy on the sofa, as they watched a film, occasionally getting up to check on the food every so often.

"Here you go." He smiled as he leaned under the tree scooping out the three gifts. "For you Perce, it was a bit of a tough call. I had no idea what to get so I decided to double up the gift with your birthday gone and next years." He explained, handing him a small pouch. They all watched as he opened it, his eyes lighting up in shock.

"You didn't. Is it like yours?" He wondered, examining the keyring.

"Sort of. It's enchanted to be just that car unfortunately, I don't think mum would appreciate you in a Lambo." He grinned. "That and it can only be used on your birthday I'm afraid." Percy nodded none the less, still smiling.

"Thank you very much. Mum's coming with yours later from me." Percy smiled. He nodded looking over to Annabeth, handing her the giant box.

"For you Annabeth, I thought this might come in handy for Daedalus' computer." He grinned. Her eyes lit up, a big smile stretching on her face as she handed him a neatly wrapped present.

"I was looking for one of these, I'm thankful I didn't buy one." She mused. He opened up his, looking down at the gift in surprise.

"Little bit concerning that you knew I needed a new pair of race shoes." He grinned. She shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"You told me at camp, you moron." She smiled, looking over at him. He chuckled to himself as he shook his head, looking down at his watch, placing the box on the coffee table.

"Thanks, Annabeth." He smiled as he stood and moved into the kitchen, quickly checking on the ovens, looking at the time emblazoned in bright green text, seeing it was nearly noon. He heard the doorbell ring, peering around the corner as he yelled at Percy.

"Perce, can you get that!" He called, pulling the trays from the oven, flipping the potatoes and vegetables so they didn't burn on the bottom of the pan. He pulled the Yorkshire puddings from the other oven, sticking them in the top of the other oven in the broiler, the heat from the main oven keeping them warm.

He could hear Percy greeting his mum and Paul, wishing them a Merry Christmas as he ushered them in, hearing them smelling into the air. He heard his mother come into the kitchen as he finished checking on the chicken.

"Merry Christmas, Arc." She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, pecking his cheek.

"Merry Christmas." He smiled, pecking her cheek back. "Did you get here alright?" He wondered as he looked into the living room. She hummed and nodded looking around at the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you. It smells wonderful in here, you should've asked for help, I wouldn't have minded." She smiled. He shook his head as he entered the living room, greeting Paul.

"No, it's alright, I've been enjoying myself." He laughed lightly, shaking Paul's hand. "Merry Christmas." He pulled out the two boxes from below the tree, handing over the correct ones to them both. "Here you go, there's something extra in your one." He explained, looking to his mum. They gaped in shock at the gifts, trying to refuse them.

"It's fine, apart from Percy's they are all around the same amount so it's only fair." He explained. "And I felt bad for not doing anything about your situation, so that's what the checks for." He stated, pointing to the check for twenty thousand. "It's honestly the least I could do, I'm just a little upset I can't give you more." He grinned sheepishly. Sally stood, wrapping her arms around him, kissing his cheek multiple times.

"Thank you." She smiled. Paul looked over to him thanking him for the new laptop, unaware that he could read his mind that his laptop had been playing up for a while now.

"What did you get Percy if it was more." Paul wondered. He looked to Percy who held up the car key, shaking it.

"It's a present that extends over, seen as I didn't get anything for him last August either, I might as well have doubled it up for his next too." He explained, grinning. "All he has is the key, for now, the car is in storage." He explained. His mother handed him a small box from all three of them, a new watch inside.

"We didn't really know what to get you, so we decided to play it safe." She explained. He kissed her cheek, hugging Paul and Percy.

"Thank you. I did actually need another watch, I've had this one since I won the X games all those years ago." He said sheepishly. He looked to Thalia, nodding his head to the basement. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, can you help me get the spare chairs from the basement please." She nodded as she followed him down the stairs, flicking the light switch on the wall below.

He turned to her, looking up the stairs briefly, before taking the present from his pocket, explaining himself.

"So. I saw you looking at this when we went shopping and thought it would suit you." He explained softly, handing her the box. She opened it, her eyes watering and covered her mouth, eyeing the silver necklace inside. She looked up to him, pecking him on the lips tentatively, forgetting who she was. Her eyes widened as she pulled back abruptly realising what she'd done, bracing for her punishment.

"No one can see us, Thals." He said softly. She nodded looking up at him once more, tentatively leaning in once more, kissing slowly. They pulled back a moment later, a smile on their faces as she turned.

"Help me put it on." She asked, glancing over her shoulder holding up the necklace. He smiled, taking it from her hand, wrapping it and clasping it around her neck. "Thank you." She smiled sweetly, turning to look up at him. He came back to reality, remembering what they came here for, picking up a chair. She followed him back upstairs, the second chair in hand, setting it beside the one he placed, watching as he pulled the table out, the top sliding over creating more room.

"Come on in, I'm about to start serving." He called, looking around the corner as he opened the oven, pulling out the chicken. He promptly pulled the chicken from the pan, placing it on a cutting board with a pair of metal tongs. He leaned into the counter as he reached for the immersion blender on the top shelf in the cupboard. He placed the pan onto the burner, blending the butter and vegetables together forming a thinnish gravy, whisking some flour into mixture turning it into a thicker gravy.

He carved the chicken, placing bits on everyone's plates, piling on the roasted vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and potatoes. He poured the gravy over the food, putting the plates on the tablemats, the cutlery beside them. The dinner went well, joking around and enjoying the food, Sally and Paul eyeing Thalia and Arc's closeness. He sighed after dinner, the uncomfortableness from the large meal bursting his stomach, the others feeling the same way.

He gave everyone a mint, leaving the dessert for later like last time, realising it would be a waste. Thalia handed him his gift, helping with taking the chairs back to the basement once more, a new black leather jacket. He smiled down at her, pecking her cheek for the gift.

"Thank you, my jacket was getting a bit worn." He smiled, looking at the jacket the scent of leather wafting his sinuses. The rest of the day went by quickly, getting lost in the board games Paul had brought; Monopoly, Cluedo, UNO. He laid out the spread for tea, the cake in the middle for anyone to enjoy before the day came to an end.

"You're welcome to stay here if you'd like. It's late and snowing and the spare room upstairs next to Percy's." He explained. Sally glanced to Paul nodding her head.

"If it's not too much trouble." Paul answered, looking over to him. He shook his head smiling as he finished cleaning up.

"Not at all, I'd prepared the room for you both in case you did stay." He stated, throwing away the scraps that would be pointless to eat the next day, but still plenty for the next day. Everyone turned in for the night, especially himself with his early morning start, falling straight to sleep when all the lights were switched off.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Late Christmas Gift

A couple day's passed, Sally and Paul leaving the next day, leaving Percy behind letting him go to camp with the others while he took Annabeth back. They left an hour after they did just to be safe, hopping into the Seat Leon Cupra R, waiting for Annabeth and Percy to climb into the back while he chucked Annabeth's and Percy's bag in the boot.

He decided to drive back to camp, still too drained from the past couple of days, in a world of his own. They arrived two hours later, pulling up outside his cabin, passing Annabeth her pack as she thanked him, rushing to her cabin, throwing it onto her bed before making her way back over to them. They went over their usual day at camp, training and talking with friends at the camp and around in the Arena, letting Annabeth have a break from her teaching.

She sat on the docks with the trio, her laptop and drawing tablet in hand, designing new things and improving some of Daedalus' schematics for her own twist. The conch horn sounded in the distance signalling dinner, stretching from their lack of movement as they wandered over to Dining Hall, sitting down for dinner.

He'd just dozed off when his father appeared to him in his dream, sitting in his throne.

"What can I do for you, Poseidon?" He wondered, looking up at the god. Poseidon sighed, looking down at his son.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, son. But we were both a bit distracted at the time by explaining everything to your mother, and then it escaped my mind until now." He explained. Arc frowned up at his father, baffled on what was happening. "There's been something else that has happened in England, there's no rush right this moment, you've still got another couple of hours until its breakfast where you are." He stated.

"I will meet you there." He smiled. Arc woke from his dream, looking around at the sun rising through the window behind, the light casting shadows around the room as the bunks were in the way. He Mist Travelled to England, in the car park in the middle of his camp staring in awe around at the bustle around him. He met his father on the outskirts of the power station, looking around him and at his stunned son, who's mouth was agape.

"When did this happen?" He wondered, looking around at the camp bustling with life. He observed Demigods running around, training and forging weapons, not many campers but it was enough for the camp to be protected.

"A few days after you stopped attending camp. Campers started appearing, some knowing what was happening; others that didn't. I had to tell them about their new life, a little bit awkward when it came around to telling them who I was. But they quickly settled into their new routine, passing on their knowledge to others that arrived. I think we are now at twenty campers." Poseidon finished. Arc watched campers stop every so often, eyeing him on who he was.

"There's a border up like around Camp Half-Blood now, a permanent barrier that is at the top of all four towers on the power station. Worry not, a repeat of last time will not occur." Poseidon stated, putting his fears to rest. He couldn't deal with another incident like that, he couldn't take it. He surprised his father further by hugging him, something he'd never done with his harsh upbringing.

"Thank you." He grinned, his voice wobbling. They wandered around the camp, hearing the conch horn blow calling for lunch, the outside world completely oblivious to the noise. The camp gathered around the large oval table, all talking and laughing as they sat their friends, the entire camp getting along. He watched as a son and daughter of Demeter handed out the food, everyone standing to offer the food to their godly parent, sitting back into their chair before starting to eat.

The camp grew silent as they looked up to the visiting god, his child stood beside him. He looked around at the head cabin, surprised to see it was still vacant.

"Campers." Poseidon spoke, looking around at them all. "This is the overseer of the camp he's been away in America help with the war and will be fully joining you all here when it is all over. Jamie has been the one here in charge of maintaining order in your absence being the first one here." He explained. Arc stared up at him, hiding his shocked expression in The Mist. He was happy in America. He looked out over the camp, all eyes on him, murmurs from them all.

"Hello everybody. From the look on all of your faces and the questions running through your minds, I am Arcmelos, the Son of Poseidon. This was my camp for the first fourteen years of my life, before the massacre that occurred here last Winter." He sighed, looking out to them all. "I was unable to help at the time, unaware of it all happening around me, only finding out before it was too late. But I have been informed that nothing like that is ever going to happen again." He explained, looking around at them all.

"I will do my best to prepare you all for anything and everything, don't be afraid to ask." He finished, scarcely hearing the voices in his head, calling out to him in wonder. He let them all go back to eating, turning to his father staring up at him in shock. "I can't look after this camp when this is all over, what am I supposed to do? I have to help Percy and the other in America." He whispered, staring up at Poseidon.

"Everything will be fine, I have been looking over the camp in the meantime, watching it flourish using a split. It's something we gods can do but at power consumption. It doesn't hinder us but it isn't ideal." He explained looking down to his son. Arc looked around the camp, watching the campers finish eating before standing, making there way over to their normal routine.

"Jamie." He called, watching the teenager making his way over to them.

"Yes, Arc?" He wondered, standing in front of him.

"I appreciate you looking after the camp in my absence, and was wondering if you could continue doing so when I am not around." He stated, eyeing the teenager older than him, but felt more authoritative than him. He smiled at him, nodding his head.

"Of course, it would be an honour." He smiled. Arc nodded to Jamie, looking around the camp.

"Mind telling me about everyone? Who we have with us." Arc wondered, leaning on the table behind.

"We have two children of Demeter, a son and daughter who are the cooks here. Five Children of Aphrodite, they like to keep to themselves and don't really do much." Arc nodded in understanding, looking around to the group that was clearly them.

"Yes, I know them well. There was a few back in the day that did the same, but there was one, the head co-councillor that brandished a war axe." He grinned, his ring swapping to axe, surprising Jamie. "We need to stop that, at least get them to start off with something like daggers or short swords, something. They need to have some form of practice." He sighed, looking in their direction. Jamie nodded following his gaze as he continued.

"Then there's the three children of Apollo, two sons and one daughter. They train daily in the shooting range and in charge of medical. Five Hephaestus, three daughters, two sons. One lone son of Ares who likes to stick with himself when he trains but is a surprisingly friendly son of Ares to the camp friends with everyone. Then there's me the lone son of Hermes." He grinned. Arc nodded as he looked to where his father stood, nodding and headed into the Thames, disappearing in a flash.

He walked around the camp with Jamie, realising quickly they'd become quite good friends. They walked around, giving tips to the others that needed help, as well as ordering the children of Aphrodite to start training, beginning there training with the son of Hermes and Poseidon. They started them off lightly, going over the basics and showing them how to effectively kill a monster.

"Arcmelos!" He heard Thalia yell in his head, startled at abruptness. He flicked his wrist, excusing himself briefly. He walked over to the trio who stood facing the Power station, baffled on their change of surroundings.

"Sorry. Sorry." He started, stepping over to them. "Poseidon came to me in a dream, telling me to come to England to my camp. I got a bit carried away." He explained, rubbing the back of his head in guilt. They looked around at him and their surroundings, gaping at the new camp they've never visited.

He walked around with them, looking at their expressions as they looked around, Annabeth babbling about the structural changes she'd make to the cabins and power station.

"Can you not try and demolish my camp please?" He teased, laughing lightly at Annabeth as she looked smiled guiltily up at him.

"Who's in charge?" Thalia wondered, stood beside him rather close.

"A son of Hermes is in charge when I'm not here, but I've just been appointed to lead when I'm here." He explained, calling for another camp meeting, blowing the conch horn once more. Shortly after, the twenty people stood around them, Jamie stepping forward in front of them, looking curiously to his co-councillor.

"New recruits?" He wondered staring at the three. Arc grinned shaking his head as he turned, nodding at the others to stand beside him.

"No, these are from the American camp. This is my brother Percy. The daughter of Athena, Annabeth and Thalia Lieutenant for the Hunters and daughter of Zeus." He concluded. Everyone staring at the two girls before them in wonder, looking at the rare sight before them.

"Why are they looking so shocked?" Annabeth whispered beside him. He grinned looking between the two girls shifting uncomfortably at the attention.

"At this camp, and in England there are very rare instances of sons and daughters of Athena with her constant position in America. The same goes for the Hunters of Artemis. She tends to only find American Demigods nowadays and obviously, there aren't any kids from Zeus." He explained, looking around at them all. "Don't be alarmed if you see me disappear, Jamie is still in charge as co-councillor, and I will shortly have to get back to America myself with these." He revealed. He allowed them all to get back to training looking over them all before turning his attention back to his friends once more.

"Let's get you all back to camp." He smiled, looking at them all. They said there goodbye's to Camp Half-blood, Thalia and Percy climbing into the car. He dropped off Percy first, driving into New York chatting while they sat in the traffic coming up for New Years. He made his way to the Empire State Building dropping off Thalia, seeing the Hunter's waiting outside for her.

"Bye Thals. I'll see you soon." He smiled, looking over to her. She nodded, hiding a smile as she stepped out, meeting the Hunters. He sighed as he made way back home, parking up in the garage, the car morphing into the Rallycross car. He stepped out sighing about the events of today, happy about his camp slowly growing but scared of everything. He felt like something was going to happen. That's what usually happens when a lot of good happens in life. The downfall comes quickly after. His meeting with his mum for the first time, his moments with Thalia over Christmas, his camp getting back on its feet.

He feared what was to come.

**That's the rewrite of Arcs second story finished. The first chapter of the third rewrite will be out either on Monday at 9 pm as usual. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Reviewing, favouriting and following is a huge help! **


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